1 


Korea's  Fight  for  Freedom 


"  Mr.  F.  A.  McKenzie  has  been  abused  in  the  columns  of  the 
Japanese  press,  with  a  violence  which,  in  the  absence  of  any 
reasoned  controversy,  indicated  a  last  resource.  In  answer  to 
his  specific  charges,  only  one  word  has  been  uttered — •  lies !  ' 

"  Yet  these  charges  embrace  crimes  of  the  first  magnitude — 
murder,  plunder,  outrage,  incendiarism,  and  in  short  all  the 
horrors  that  make  up  tyranny  of  the  worst  description.  It  is 
difficult  to  see  how  Mr.  McKenzie's  sincerity  could  be  called 
into  question,  for  he,  too,  like  many  other  critics  of  the  new 
Administration,  was  once  a  warm  friend  and  supporter  of  Japan. 

"  In  those  days,  his  contributions  were  quoted  at  great  length 
in  the  newspapers  of  Tokyo,  while  the  editorial  columns  ex- 
pressed their  appreciation  of  his  marked  capacity.  So  soon, 
however,  as  he  found  fault  with  the  conditions  prevailing  in 
Korea,  he  was  contemptuously  termed  a  «  yellow  journalist '  and 
a  «  sensation  monger.'  " — From  "Empires  of  the  Far  East"  by 
F.  Lancelot  Lawson.     London.     Grant  Richards* 

"  Mr.  McKenzie  was  perhaps  the  only  foreigner  outside  the 
ranks  of  missionaries  who  ever  took  the  trouble  to  elude  the 
vigilance  of  the  Japanese,  escape  from  Seoul  into  the  in- 
terior, and  there  see  with  his  own  eyes  what  the  Japanese  were 
really  doing.  And  yet  when  men  of  this  kind,  who  write  of 
things  which  come  within  scope  of  personal  observation  and 
enquiry,  have  the  presumption  to  tell  the  world  that  all  is  not 
well  in  Korea,  and  that  the  Japanese  cannot  be  acquitted  of 
guilt  in  this  context,  grave  pundits  in  Tokyo,  London  and  New 
York  gravely  rebuke  them  for  following  their  own  senses  in 
preference  to  the  official  returns  of  the  Residency  General.  It 
is  a  poor  joke  at  the  best !  Nor  is  it  the  symptom  of  a  powerful 
cause  that  the  failure  of  the  Japanese  authorities  to  *  pacify ' 
the  interior  is  ascribed  to  ■  anti- Japanese '  writers  like  Mr. 
McKenzie."— From  "Peace  and  War  in  the  Far  East,"  by  £.  J. 
Harrison.     Yokohama.     Kelly  and  Walsh. 


Korea's  Fight  for 
Freedom 


By 

f.  a.  Mckenzie 

Author  of  "The  Tragedy  of  Korea,"  "The 

Unveiled  East"  "Through  the 

Hindenburg  Line"  etc. 


New  York  Chicago 

Fleming    H.    Rcvell    Company 

London  and  Edinburgh 


Copyright,   1920,  by 

JLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


r> 


New  York :  1 58  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago :  1 7  North  Wabash  Ave. 
London :  2 1  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh :       75     Princes     Street 


Preface 

THE  peaceful  uprising  of  the  people  of 
Korea  against  Japan  in  the  spring  of  1919 
came  as  a  world  surprise.  Here  was  a 
nation  that  had  been  ticketed  and  docketed  by- 
world  statesmen  as  degenerate  and  cowardly,  re- 
vealing heroism  of  a  very  high  order. 

The  soldier  facing  the  enemy  in  the  open  is  in- 
spired by  the  atmosphere  of  war,  and  knows  that 
he  has  at  least  a  fighting  chance  against  his  foe. 
The  Koreans  took  their  stand — their  women 
and  children  by  their  side — without  weapons  and 
without  means  of  defense.  They  pledged  them- 
selves ahead  to  show  no  violence.  They  had  all 
too  good  reason  to  anticipate  that  their  lot  would 
be  the  same  as  that  of  others  who  had  preceded 
them — torture  as  ingenious  and  varied  as  Torque- 
mada  and  his  familiars  ever  practiced. 

They  were  not  disappointed.  They  were  called 
on  to  endure  all  that  they  had  anticipated,  in  good 
measure,  pressed  down  and  running  over.  When 
they  were  dragged  to  prison,  others  stepped  into 
their  place.  When  these  were  taken,  still  others 
were  ready  to  succeed  them.  And  more  are  even 
now  waiting  to  join  in  the  dreadful  procession,  if 

5 

435712 


6"  '   V     ••'•••    PEEFACE 

the  protests  of  the  civilized  world  do  not  induce 
Japan  to  call  a  halt. 

It  seems  evident  that  either  the  world  made  a 
mistake  in  its  first  estimate  of  Korean  character, 
or  these  people  have  experienced  a  new  birth. 
Which  is  the  right  explanation?     Maybe  both. 

To  understand  what  has  happened,  and  what,  as 
I  write,  is  still  happening,  one  has  to  go  back  for  a 
few  years.  When  Japan,  in  face  of  her  repeated 
pledges,  annexed  Korea,  her  statesmen  adopted  an 
avowed  policy  of  assimilation.  They  attempted  to 
turn  the  people  of  Korea  into  Japanese — an  inferior 
brand  of  Japanese,  a  serf  race,  speaking  the  lan- 
guage and  following  the  customs  of  their  overlords, 
and  serving  them. 

To  accomplish  this  better,  the  Koreans  were 
isolated,  not  allowed  to  mix  freely  with  the  outer 
world,  and  deprived  of  liberty  of  speech,  person 
and  press.  The  Japanese  brought  certain  material 
reforms.  They  forgot  to  supply  one  thing — jus- 
tice. Men  of  progressive  ideas  were  seized  and  im- 
prisoned in  such  numbers  that  a  new  series  of 
prisons  had  to  be  built.  In  six  years  the  total  of 
prisoners  convicted  or  awaiting  trial  doubled.  The 
rule  of  the  big  stick  was  instituted,  and  the  Japa- 
nese police  were  given  the  right  to  flog  without  trial 
any  Korean  they  pleased.  The  bamboo  was  em- 
ployed on  scores  of  thousands  of  people  each  year, 
employed  so  vigorously  as  to  leave  a  train  of 
cripples  and  corpses  behind.     The  old  tyranny  of 


PREFACE  7 

the  yang-ban  was  replaced  by  a  more  terrible,  be- 
cause more  scientifically  cruel,  tyranny  of  an  un- 
controlled police. 

The  Japanese  struck  an  unexpected  strain  of 
hardness  in  the  Korean  character.  They  found, 
underneath  the  surface  apathy,  a  spirit  as  deter- 
mined as  their  own.  They  succeeded,  not  in  as- 
similating the  people,  but  in  reviving  their  sense  of 
nationality. 

Before  Japan  acquired  the  country,  large  num- 
bers of  Koreans  had  adopted  Christianity.  Under 
the  influence  of  the  teachers  from  America,  they 
became  clean  in  person,  they  brought  their  women 
out  from  the  "  anpang  "  (zenana)  into  the  light  of 
day,  and  they  absorbed  Western  ideas  and  ideals. 
The  mission  schools  taught  modern  history,  with 
its  tales  of  the  heroes  and  heroines  of  liberty, 
women  like  Joan  of  Arc,  men  like  Hampden  and 
George  Washington.  And  the  missionaries  circu- 
lated and  taught  the  Bible — the  most  dynamic  and 
disturbing  book  in  the  world.  When  a  people 
saturated  in  the  Bible  comes  into  touch  with 
tyranny,  either  one  of  two  things  happens,  the  peo- 
ple are  exterminated  or  tyranny  ceases. 

The  Japanese  realized  their  danger.  They  tried, 
in  vain,  to  bring  the  Churches  under  Japanese  con- 
trol. They  confiscated  or  forbade  missionary  text- 
books, substituting  their  own.  Failing  to  win  the 
support  of  the  Christians,  they  instituted  a  wide- 
spread persecution  of  the  Christian  leaders  of  the 
north.      Many    were    arrested    and    tortured    on 


8  PEEFACB 

charges  which  the  Japanese  Courts  themselves 
afterwards  found  to  be  false.  The  Koreans  en- 
dured until  they  could  endure  no  more.  Not  the 
Christians  alone,  but  men  of  all  faiths  and  all  classes 
acted  as  one.  The  story  of  their  great  protest,  of 
what  led  up  to  it,  and  the  way  in  which  it  was  met, 
is  told  in  this  book. 

To  the  outsider,  one  of  the  most  repulsive 
features  of  the  Japanese  method  of  government 
of  Korea  is  the  wholesale  torture  of  untried 
prisoners,  particularly  political  prisoners.  Were 
this  torture  an  isolated  occurrence,  I  would  not 
mention  it.  There  are  always  occasional  men  who, 
invested  with  authority  and  not  properly  controlled, 
abuse  their  position.  But  here  torture  is  employed 
in  many  centres  and  on  thousands  of  people.  The 
Imperial  Japanese  Government,  while  enacting 
paper  regulations  against  the  employment  of  tor- 
ture, in  effect  condones  it.  When  details  of  the 
inhuman  treatment  of  Christian  Korean  prisoners 
have  been  given  in  open  court,  and  the  victims  have 
been  found  innocent,  the  higher  authorities  have 
taken  no  steps  to  bring  the  torturers  to  justice. 

The  forms  of  torture  freely  employed  include, 
among  others : — 

1.  The  stripping,  beating,  kicking,  flogging,  and 
outraging  of  schoolgirls  and  young  women. 

2.  Flogging  schoolboys  to  death. 

3.  Burning — the  burning  of  young  girls  by 
pressing   lighted    cigarettes    against    their    tender 


PEEFACE  9 

parts,  and  the  burning  of  men,  women  and  children 
by  searing  their  bodies  with  hot  irons. 

4.  Stringing  men  up  by  their  thumbs,  beating 
them  with  bamboos  and  iron  rods  until  unconscious, 
restoring  them  and  repeating  the  process,  some- 
times several  times  in  one  day,  sometimes  until 
death. 

5.  Contraction — tying  men  up  in  such  fashion 
as  to  cause  intense  suffering. 

6.  Confinement  for  long  periods  under  tortur- 
ing conditions,  as,  e.  g.,  where  men  and  women  are 
packed  so  tightly  in  a  room  that  they  cannot  lie  or 
sit  down  for  days  at  a  stretch. 

In  the  latter  chapters  of  this  book  I  supply  details 
of  many  cases  where  such  methods  have  been  em- 
ployed. Where  it  can  safely  be  done,  I  give 
full  names  and  places.  In  many  instances  this  is 
impossible,  for  it  would  expose  the  victims  to  fur- 
ther ill  treatment.  Sworn  statements  have  been 
made  before  the  American  Consular  authorities 
covering  many  of  the  worst  events  that  followed 
the  1919  uprising.  These  are  now,  I  understand, 
with  the  State  Department  at  Washington.  It  is 
to  be  hoped  that  in  due  course  they  will  be  pub- 
lished in  full. 

When  my  book,  "  The  Tragedy  of  Korea,"  was 
published  in  1908,  it  seemed  a  thankless  and  hope- 
less task  to  plead  for  a  stricken  and  forsaken  na- 
tion. The  book,  however,  aroused  a  wide-spread 
and  growing  interest.     It  has  been  more  widely 


10  PEEFACE 

quoted  and  discussed  in  1919  than  in  any  previous 
year.  Lawyers  have  argued  over  it  in  open  court; 
statesmen  have  debated  parts  of  it  in  secret  con- 
ferences, Senates  and  Parliaments.  At  a  famous 
political  trial,  one  question  was  put  to  the  prisoner, 
"Have  you  read  the  'Tragedy  of  Korea' ?"  It 
has  been  translated  into  Chinese. 

At  first  I  was  accused  of  exaggeration  and  worse. 
Subsequent  events  have  amply  borne  out  my  state- 
ments and  warnings.  The  book  has  been  for  a 
long  time  out  of  print,  and  even  second-hand  copies 
have  been  difficult  to  obtain.  I  was  strongly  urged 
to  publish  a  new  edition,  bringing  my  narrative  up 
to  date,  but  I  found  that  it  would  be  better  to  write 
a  new  book,  including  in  it,  however,  some  of  the 
most  debated  passages  and  chapters  of  the  old. 
This  I  have  done. 

Some  critics  have  sought  to  charge  me  with  be- 
ing "  anti-Japanese."  No  man  has  written  more 
appreciatively  of  certain  phases  of  Japanese  char- 
acter and  accomplishments  than  myself.  My  per- 
sonal relations  with  the  Japanese,  more  especially 
with  the  Japanese  Army,  left  me  with  no  sense  of 
personal  grievance  but  with  many  pleasant  and 
cordial  memories.  My  Japanese  friends  were  good 
enough  to  say,  in  the  old  days,  that  these  agreeable 
recollections  were  mutual. 

I  have  long  been  convinced,  however,  that  the 
policy  of  Imperial  expansion  adopted  by  Japan,  and 
the  means  employed  in  advancing  it,  are  a  grave 


PEEFACE  11 

menace  to  her  own  permanent  well-being  and  to 
the  future  peace  of  the  world.  I  am  further  con- 
vinced that  the  militarist  party  really  controls 
Japanese  policy,  and  that  temporary  modifications 
which  have  been  recently  announced  do  not  imply 
any  essential  change  of  national  plans  and  am- 
bitions. If  to  believe  and  to  proclaim  this  is  "  anti- 
Japanese,"  then  I  plead  guilty  to  the  charge.  I 
share  my  guilt  with  many  loyal  and  patriotic  Japa- 
nese subjects,  who  see,  as  I  see,  the  perils  ahead. 

In  this  book  I  describe  the  struggle  of  an  ancient 
people  towards  liberty.  I  tell  of  a  Mongol  nation, 
roughly  awakened  from  its  long  sleep,  under  con- 
ditions of  tragic  terror,  that  has  seized  hold  of  and 
is  clinging  fast  to,  things  vital  to  civilization  as  we 
see  it,  freedom  and  free  faith,  the  honour  of  their 
women,  the  development  of  their  own  souls. 

I  plead  for  Freedom  and  Justice.  Will  the  world 
hear? 

F.  A.  McKenzie. 


Contents 


I.  Opening  the  Oyster 

II.  Japan  Makes  a  False  Move 

III.  The  Murder  of  the  Queen 

IV.  The  Independence  Club 

V.  The  New  Era 

VI.  The  Rule  of  Prince  Ito 

VII.  The  Abdication  of  Yi  Hyeung 

VIII.  A  Journey  to  the  "  Righteous  Army  ' 

IX.  With  the  Rebels  .... 

X.  The  Last  Days  of  the  Korean  Empire 
XL  "  I  Will  Whip  You  with  Scorpions  " 

XII.  The  Missionaries  .... 

XIII.  Torture  a  la  Mode 

XIV.  The  Independence  Movement 

XV.  The   People  Speak — The  Tyrants 

Answer 

XVI.  The  Reign  of  Terror  in  Pyeng-yang 

XVI I.  Girl  Martyrs  for  Liberty    . 

XVIII.  World  Reactions  .... 

XIX.  What  Can  We  Do?       . 


IS 

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42 
60 

79 
104 
121 
132 

153 
171 
182 
204 
218 
239 

251 
276 
290 
303 
315 


13 


OPENING  THE  OYSTER 

UP  to  the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, Korea  refused  all  intercourse  with 
foreign  nations.  Peaceful  ships  that  ap- 
proached its  uncharted  and  unlit  shores  were  fired 
upon.  Its  only  land  approach,  from  the  north, 
was  bounded  by  an  almost  inaccessible  mountain 
and  forest  region,  and  by  a  devastated  "  No  Man's 
Land,"  infested  by  bandits  and  river  pirates. 
When  outside  Governments  made  friendly  ap- 
proaches, and  offered  to  show  Korea  the  wonders 
of  modern  civilization,  they  received  the  haughty 
reply  that  Korea  was  quite  satisfied  with  its  own 
civilization,  which  had  endured  for  four  thousand 
years. 

Even  Korea,  however,  could  not  keep  the  world 
entirely  in  the  dark  about  it.  Chinese  sources  told 
something  of  its  history.  Its  people  were  the 
descendants  of  Ki-tzse,  a  famous  Chinese  sage  and 
statesman  who,  eleven  hundred  years  before  Christ, 
moved  with  his  tribesmen  over  the  river  Yalu  be- 
cause he  would  not  recognize  or  submit  to  a  new 
dynasty  that  had  usurped  power  in  China.  His 
followers  doubtless  absorbed  and  were  influenced 
by  still  older  settlers  in  Korea.     The  result  was  a 

x5 


'  <L 


16  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FREEDOM 

people  with  strong  national  characteristics,  differ- 
ent and  distinct  from  the  Chinese  on  the  one  side 
and  the  Japanese  on  the  other. 

We  knew  that,  as  Korea  obtained  much  of  its 
early  knowledge  from  China,  so  it  gave  the  younger 
nation  of  Japan  its  learning  and  industries.  Its 
people  reached  a  high  stage  of  culture,  and  all 
records  indicate  that  in  the  days  when  the  early 
Briton  painted  himself  with  woad  and  when  Rome 
was  at  her  prime,  Korea  was  a  powerful,  orderly 
and  civilized  kingdom.  Unhappily  it  was  placed  as 
a  buffer  between  two  states,  China,  ready  to  absorb 
it,  and  Japan,  keen  to  conquer  its  people  as  a  pre- 
liminary to  triumph  over  China. 

In  the  course  of  centuries,  it  became  an  inbred 
tradition  with  the  Japanese  that  they  must  seize 
Korea.  Hideyoshi,  the  famous  Japanese  Regent, 
made  a  tremendous  effort  in  1582.  _  Three  hundred 
thousand  troops  swept  over  Korea,  capturing  city 
after  city,  and  driving  the  Korean  forces  to  the 
north.  Korea  appealed  to  China  for  aid,  and  after 
terrible  fighting,  the  Japanese  were  driven  back. 
They  left  a  Korea  in  ruins,  carrying  off  everything 
they  could,  and  destroying  all  they  could  not  carry 
off.  They  kidnapped,  among  others,  the  skilled 
workmen  of  Korea,  and  made  them  remain  in  Japan 
and  carry  on  their  industries  there. 

Hideyoshi's  invasion  is  of  more  than  historic  in- 
terest. Korea  has  never  recovered  the  damage 
then  done.  The  Japanese  desire  for  Korea, 
thwarted  for  the  moment,  smouldered,  waiting  for 


OPENING  THE  OYSTEE  17 

the  moment  to  burst  afresh  into  flame.  The  mem- 
ories of  their  terrible  sufferings  at  the  hands  of  the 
Japanese  ground  into  the  Koreans  a  hatred  of  their 
neighbour,  handed  down  undiminished  from  gen- 
eration to  generation,  to  this  day. 

Korea  might  have  recovered,  but  for  another  and 
even  more  serious  handicap.  A  new  dynasty,  the 
House  of  Yi,  succeeded  to  the  Korean  throne  over 
five  centuries  ago,  and  established  a  rule  fatal  to  all 
progress.  The  King  was  everything,  and  the 
nation  lived  solely  for  him.  No  man  was  allowed 
to  become  too  rich  or  powerful.  There  must  be 
no  great  nobles  to  come  together  and  oppose  these 
kings  as  the  Norman  Barons  fought  and  checked 
the  Norman  Kings  of  England. 

No  man  was  allowed  to  build  a  house  beyond  a 
certain  size,  save  the  King.  The  only  way  to 
wealth  or  power  was  by  enlisting  in  the  King's 
service.  The  King's  governors  were  free  to  plunder 
as  they  would,  and  even  the  village  magistrate, 
representing  the  King,  could  freely  work  his  will 
on  those  under  him.  The  King  had  his  eyes  every- 
where. His  spies  were  all  over  the  land.  Let 
yang-ban  (official  or  noble)  however  high  show 
unhealthy  ambition  or  seek  to  conceal  anything 
from  the  royal  knowledge  and  he  would  be  called 
to  Court  and  broken  in  an  hour,  and  would  count 
himself  fortunate  if  he  escaped  with  his  life. 

The  Korean  people  are  eminently  pacific.  Up  to 
a  point,  they  endure  hard  things  uncomplainingly. 
It  would  have  been  better  for  them  had  they  not 


18  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FREEDOM 

suffered  wrongs  so  tamely.  The  Yi  method  of 
government  killed  ambition — except  for  the  King's 
service — killed  enterprise  and  killed  progress.  The 
aim  of  the  business  man  and  the  farmer  was  to 
escape  notice  and  live  quietly. 

Foreigners  attempted,  time  after  time,  to  make 
their  way  into  the  country.  French  Catholic 
priests,  as  far  back  as  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  smuggled  themselves  in.  Despite  torture 
and  death,  they  kept  on,  until  the  great  persecution 
of  1866  wiped  them  and  their  converts  out.  This 
persecution  arose  because  of  fear  of  foreign  aggres- 
sion. 

A  Russian  war  vessel  appeared  off  Broughton's 
Bay,  demanding  on  behalf  of  Russians  the  right  of 
commerce.  The  King  at  this  time  was  a  minor, 
adopted  by  the  late  King.  His  father,  the  Tai  Won 
Kun,  or  Regent,  ruled  in  his  stead.  He  was  a  man 
of  great  force  of  character  and  no  scruples.  He  slew 
in  wholesale  fashion  those  who  dared  oppose  him. 
He  had  the  idea  that  the  Christians  favoured  the 
coming  of  the  foreigner  and  so  he  turned  his  wrath 
on  them.  The  native  Catholics  were  wiped  out, 
under  every  possible  circumstance  of  brutality,  and 
with  them  perished  a  number  of  French  Catholic 
priests.  By  one  of  those  contradictions  which  are 
constantly  happening  in  real  life,  the  crew  of  an 
American  steamer,  the  Surprise,  who  were  wrecked 
off  the  coast  of  Whang-hai  that  year  were  treated 
with  all  possible  honour  and  consideration,  and 
were  returned  home,  through  Manchuria,  officials 


OPENING  THE  OYSTER  19 

conducting  them  and  the  people  coming  out  to 
greet  them  as  they  travelled  through  the  land. 

The  French  Minister  at  Peking  determined  on 
revenge  for  the  death  of  the  priests.  A  strong  ex- 
pedition was  sent  to  the  Han  River,  and  attacked 
the  forts  on  the  Kangwha  Island.  The  Korean 
troops  met  them  bravely,  and  although  the  French 
obtained  a  temporary  success,  thanks  to  their 
modern  weapons,  they  were  in  the  end  forced  to 
retire. 

An  American  ship,  the  General  Sherman,  set  out 
for  Korea  in  1866,  sailing  from  Tientsin  for  the 
purpose,  it  was  rumoured,  of  plundering  the  royal 
tombs  at  Pyeng-yang.  It  entered  the  Tai-tong 
*River,  where  it  was  ordered  to  stop.  A  fight 
opened  between  it  and  the  Koreans,  the  latter  in 
their  dragon  cloud  armour,  supposed  to  be  im- 
pervious to  bullets,  sending  their  fire  arrows  against 
the  invaders.  The  captain,  not  knowing  the 
soundings  of  the  river,  ran  his  ship  ashore.  The 
Koreans  sent  fire  boats  drifting  down  the  river  to- 
wards the  American  ship.  One  of  them  set  the 
General  Sherman  in  flames.  Those  of  the  crew  who 
were  not  burned  on  the  spot  were  soon  slaughtered 
by  the  triumphant  Korean  soldiers.  A  more  dis- 
reputable expedition,  headed  by  a  German  Jew, 
Ernest  Oppert  and  an  American  called  Jenkins,  left 
Shanghai  in  the  following  year,  with  a  strong  fight- 
ing crew  of  Chinese  and  Malays,  and  with  a  French 
missionary  priest,  M.  Feron,  as  guide.  They 
landed,  and  actually  succeeded  in  reaching  the  royal 


20  KOBEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

<j 

tombs  near  the  capital.  Their  shovels  were  use- 
less, however,  to  remove  the  immense  stones  over 
the  graves.  A  heavy  fog  enabled  them  to  carry  on 
their  work  for  a  time  undisturbed.  Soon  an  angry 
crowd  gathered,  and  they  had  to  return  to  their 
ship,  the  China,  They  were  fortunate  to  escape 
before  the  Korean  troops  came  up.  The  American 
consular  authorities  in  Shanghai  placed  Jenkins  on 
trial,  but  there  was  not  enough  evidence  to  convict 
him. 

The  killing  of  the  crew  of  the  General  Sherman 
brought  the  American  Government  into  action. 
Captain  Shufeldt,  commander  of  the  Wachusset, 
was  ordered  to  go  to  Korea  and  obtain  redress. 
He  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Han  River,  and  sent  a 
message  to  the  King,  asking  an  explanation  of  the 
matter.  He  had  to  retire,  owing  to  weather  con- 
ditions, before  the  reply  arrived.  The  Korean 
reply,  when  eventually  delivered,  was  in  effect  a 
plea  of  justification.  The  Americans,  however, 
determined  to  inflict  punishment,  and  a  fleet  was 
sent  to  destroy  the  forts  on  the  Han  River. 

The  American  ships,  the  Monaeacy  and  the  Palos 
bombarded  the  forts.  The  Korean  brass  guns,  of 
one  and  one-half  inch  bore,  and  their  thirty  pound- 
ers, could  do  nothing  against  the  American 
howitzers,  throwing  eight  and  ten  inch  shells.  The 
American  Marines  and  sailors  landed,  and  in  cap- 
turing a  hill  fort,  had  a  short,  hot  hand-to-hand 
battle  with  the  defenders.  The  Koreans  fought 
desperately,  picking  up  handfuls  of  dust  to  fling  in 


OPENING  THE  OYSTER  21 

the  eyes  of  the  Americans  when  they  had  nothing 
else  to  fight  with.  Refusing  to  surrender  they  were 
wiped  out.  Having  destroyed  the  forts  and  killed 
a  number  of  the  soldiers,  there  was  nothing  for  the 
Americans  to  do  but  to  retire.  The  "  gobs  "  were 
the  first  to  admit  the  real  courage  of  the  Korean 
soldiers. 

Japan,  which  herself  after  considerable  internal 
trouble,  had  accepted  the  coming  of  the  Westerner 
as  inevitable,  tried  on  several  occasions  to  renew 
relations  with  Korea.  At  first  she  was  repulsed. 
In  1876  a  Japanese  ship,  approaching  the  Korean 
coast,  was  fired  on,  as  the  Japanese  a  generation 
before  had  fired  on  foreign  ships  approaching  their 
shore.  There  was  a  furious  demand  all  over  the 
country  for  revenge.  Ito  and  other  leaders  with 
cool  heads  resisted  the  demand,  but  took  such  steps 
that  Korea  was  compelled  to  conclude  a  treaty 
opening  several  ports  to  Japanese  trade  and  giving 
Japan  the  right  to  send  a  minister  to  Seoul,  the 
capital.  The  first  clause  of  the  first  article  of  the 
treaty  was  in  itself  a  warning  of  future  trouble. 
"  Chosen  (Korea)  being  an  independent  state 
enjoys  the  same  sovereign  rights  as  does  Japan." 
In  other  words  Korea  was  virtually  made  to  disown 
the  slight  Chinese  protectorate  which  had  been  ex- 
ercised for  centuries. 

The  Chinese  statesmen  in  Peking  watched  this 
undisturbed.  They  despised  the  Japanese  too 
much  to  fear  them,  little  dreaming  that  this  small 
nation  was  within  less  than  twenty  years  to  humble 


22  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

them  in  the  dust.  Their  real  fear  at  this  time  was 
not  Japan  but  Russia.  Russia  was  stretching  forth 
throughout  Asia,  and  it  looked  as  though  she  would 
try  to  seize  Korea  itself.  And  so  Li  Hung-chang 
advised  the  Korean  rulers  to  guard  themselves. 
"  You  must  open  your  doors  to  other  nations  in 
order  to  keep  out  Russia,"  he  told  them.  At  the 
same  time  it  was  intimated  to  Ministers  in  Peking, 
particularly  to  the  American  Minister,  that  if  he 
would  approach  the  Koreans,  they  would  be  willing 
to  listen.  Commodore  Shufeldt  was  made  Ameri- 
can Envoy,  and  an  American-Korean  Treaty  was 
signed  at  Gensan  on  May  22,  1882.  It  was,  truth 
to  tell,  a  somewhat  amateurish  production,  and  had 
to  be  amended  before  it  was  finally  ratified.  It 
provided  for  the  appointment  of  diplomatic  and 
Consular  officials,  and  for  the  opening  of  the 
country  to  commerce.  A  treaty  with  Britain  was 
concluded  in  the  following  year,  and  other  nations 
followed. 

One  clause  in  the  American  Treaty  was  after- 
wards regarded  by  the  Korean  ruler  as  the  sheet 
anchor  of  his  safety,  until  storm  came  and  it  was 
found  that  the  sheet  anchor  did  not  hold. 

There  shall  be  perpetual  peace  and  friendship  between 
the  President  of  the  United  States  and  the  King  of  Chosen 
and  the  citizens  and  subjects  of  their  respective  Govern- 
ments. If  other  powers  deal  unjustly  or  oppressively 
with  either  Government,  the  other  will  exert  their  good 
offices,  on  being  informed  of  the  case,  to  bring  about  an 
amicable  arrangement,  thus  showing  their  friendly  feel- 
ings. 


OPENING  THE  OYSTER  23 

All  of  the  treaties  provided  for  extra-territoriality 
in  Korea,  that  is  to  say  that  the  foreigners  charged 
with  any  offence  there  should  be  tried  not  by  the  Ko- 
rean Courts  but  by  their  own,  and  punished  by  them. 

Groups  of  adventurous  foreigners  soon  entered 
the  country.  Foreign  ministers  and  their  staffs 
arrived  first.  Missionaries,  concession  hunters, 
traders  and  commercial  travellers  followed. 

They  found  Seoul,  the  capital,  beautifully  placed 
in  a  valley  surrounded  by  hills,  a  city  of  royal 
palaces  and  one-storied,  mud-walled  houses,  roofed 
with  thatch — a  city  guarded  by  great  walls.  States- 
men and  nobles  and  generals,  always  surrounded 
by  numerous  retinues  in  glorious  attire,  ambled 
through  the  narrow  streets  in  dignified  procession. 
Closed  palanquins,  carried  by  sturdy  bearers,  bore 
yet  other  dignitaries. 

The  life  of  the  city  revolved  round  the  King's 
Court,  with  its  four  thousand  retainers,  eunuchs, 
sorcerers,  blind  diviners,  politicians  and  place  hunt- 
ers. The  most  prominent  industry — outside  of 
politics — was  the  making  of  brass  ware,  particu- 
larly of  making  fine  brass  mounted  chests.  The 
average  citizen  dressed  in  long  flowing  white  robes, 
with  a  high,  broad-brimmed,  black  gauze  hat. 
Hundreds  of  women  were  ever  busy  at  the  river 
bank  washing  these  white  garments. 

Women  of  good  family  remained  at  home,  except 
for  one  hour  after  dark,  when  the  men  retired  from 
the  streets  and  the  women  came  out.  Working 
women  went  to  and  fro,  with  their  faces  shielded 


24  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FEEEDOM 

by  green  jackets  thrown  over  their  heads.  Their 
usual  dress  was  a  white  skirt  coming  high  up  and 
a  very  short  jacket.  The  breasts  and  the  flesh 
immediately  below  the  breasts  were  often  freely 
displayed.  Fishing  and  farming  supported  ninety 
per  cent,  of  the  population,  and  the  Korean  farmer 
was  an  expert.  At  sunset  the  gates  of  Seoul  were 
closed,  and  belated  wayfarers  refused  admission 
until  morning.  But  there  was  no  difficulty  in 
climbing  over  the  city  walls.  That  was  typical. 
Signal  fires  at  night  on  the  hills  proclaimed  that 
all  was  well. 

The  Koreans  were  mild,  good  natured,  and  full 
of  contradictory  characteristics.  Despite  their 
usual  good  nature,  they  were  capable  of  great 
bursts  of  passion,  particularly  over  public  affairs. 
They  often  looked  dirty,  because  their  white 
clothes  soiled  easily;  yet  they  probably  spent  more 
time  and  money  over  external  cleanliness  than  any 
other  Asiatic  people.  At  first,  they  gave  an  im- 
pression of  laziness.  The  visitor  would  note  them 
sleeping  in  the  streets  of  the  cities  at  noon.  But 
Europeans  soon  found  that  Korean  labourers, 
properly  handled,  were  capable  of  great  effort. 
And  young  men  of  the  cultured  classes  amazed 
their  foreign  teachers  by  the  quickness  with  which 
they  absorbed  Western  learning. 

The  land  was  torn,  at  the  time  of  the  entry  of  the 
foreigners,  by  the  rivalry  of  two  great  families — 
the  Yi's,  the  blood  relatives  of  the  King,  and  the 
Mins,  the  family  of  the  Queen.     The  ex-Regent 


OPENING  THE  OYSTER  T25 

was  leader  of  the  Yi's.  He  had  exercised  absolute 
power  for  many  years  during  the  King's  minority, 
and  attempted  to  retain  power  even  after  he  ceased 
to  be  Regent.  But  he  reckoned  without  the  Queen. 
She  was  as  ambitious  as  the  Regent.  The  birth  of  a 
son  greatly  improved  and  strengthened  her  author- 
ity, and  she  gradually  edged  the  Regent's  party 
out  of  high  office.  Her  brother,  Min  Yeung-ho, 
became  Prime  Minister;  her  nephew,  Min  Yung-ik, 
was  sent  as  Ambassador  to  the  United  States.  The 
Regent  was  anti-foreign;  the  Queen  advocated  the 
admission  of  foreigners.  The  Regent  tried  to 
strengthen  his  hold  by  a  very  vigorous  policy  of 
•murder,  attempting  the  death  of  the  Queen  and  her 
relatives.  One  little  incident  was  an  effort  to  blow 
up  the  Queen.  But  Queen  Min  was  triumphant 
every  time.  The  King,  usually  weak  and  easily 
moved,  really  loved  the  Queen,  refused  to  be  in- 
fluenced away  from  her,  and  was  dominated  by  her 
strong  character. 

In  the  summer  of  1881  there  was  a  famine  in  the 
land.  The  Regent's  agents  were  busy  every- 
where whispering  that  the  spirits  were  angry  with 
the  nation  for  admitting  the  foreigner,  and  that 
Queen  Min  had  brought  the  wrath  of  the  gods  on 
them.  The  National  Treasury  failed,  and  many 
of  the  King's  soldiers  and  retainers  were  ready  for 
any  trouble.  A  great  mob  gathered  in  the  streets. 
It  first  attacked  and  murdered  the  King's  Minis- 
ters, and  destroyed  their  houses.  Then  it  turned 
against  the  King's  palace. 


26  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

Word  came  to  the  Queen's  quarters  that  the 
rioters  were  hammering  at  the  gates  and  would 
soon  be  on  her.  The  palace  guards  had  weakened, 
and  some  had  even  joined  the  people.  Queen  Min 
was  calm  and  collected.  She  quickly  changed 
clothes  with  one  of  her  serving  women,  who  some- 
what resembled  her  in  appearance.  The  serving 
woman,  dressed  in  the  robes  of  the  Queen,  was 
given  a  draught  of  poison  and  died. 

The  Queen  hurried  out- through  a  side  way,  in 
peasant  woman's  dress,  guarded  by  a  water  carrier, 
Yi  Yung-ik,  who  for  his  services  that  day  rose  till 
he  finally  became  Prime  Minister  of  the  land. 
When  the  crowd  broke  into  the  Queen's  private 
apartments,  they  were  shown  the  corpse  and  told 
that  it  was  the  Queen,  who  had  died  rather  than 
face  them. 

The  crowd  swept  on  and  attacked  the  Japanese 
Legation.  The  Minister,  Hanabusa,  and  his  guard, 
with  all  the  civilians  who  could  reach  the  place — 
the  rest  were  murdered — fought  bravely,  keeping 
the  mob  back  until  the  Legation  building  was  set 
afire.  Then  they  battled  their  way  through  the 
city  to  the  coast.  The  survivors — twenty-six  out 
of  forty — set  to  sea  in  a  junk.  They  were  picked 
up  at  sea  by  a  British  survey  ship,  the  Flying  Fish, 
and  conveyed  to  Nagasaki. 

There  was,  naturally,  intense  anger  in  Japan  over 
this  incident,  and  loud  demands  for  war.  A  little 
more  than  three  weeks  after,  Hanabusa  returned 
to  Seoul  with  a  strong  military   escort     He  de- 


OPENING  THE  OYSTER  27 

manded  and  obtained  punishment  of  the  murderers, 
the  honourable  burial  of  the  Japanese  dead,  an 
indemnity  of  400,000  yen,  and  further  privileges  in 
trade  for  the  Japanese. 

Meanwhile  China,  Korea's  usually  apathetic 
suzerain  power,  took  action.  Li  Hung-chang  sent 
4,000  troops  to  Seoul  to  maintain  order.  The 
Regent,  now  humble  and  conciliatory,  attempted  to 
put  blame  for  the  outbreak  on  others.  But,  that 
did  not  save  him.  The  Chinese,  with  elaborate 
courtesy,  invited  him  to  a  banquet  and  to  inspect 
their  ships.  There  was  one  ship,  in  particular,  to 
which  they  called  his  honourable  attention.  They 
begged  him  to  go  aboard  and  note  the  wonders  of 
the  apartments  below.  The  Regent  went.  Once 
below,  he  found  the  door  shut,  and  could  hear  the 
ropes  being  thrown  off  as  the  ship  hastily  departed. 
It  was  in  vain  for  him  to  call  for  his  attendants 
and  warriors  waiting  on  the  shore. 

They  took  him  to  China,  and  Li  Hung-chang 
sent  him  into  imprisonment  and  exile  for  three 
years,  until  it  was  deemed  safe  to  allow  him  to 
return. 


II 

JAPAN  MAKES  A  FALSE  MOVE 

FOR  hundreds  of  years  it  was  the  ambition  of 
Japan  to  replace  China  as  the  Protector  of 
Korea.  It  was  the  more  mortifying,  there- 
fore, that  the  Hanabusa  incident  served  to 
strengthen  China's  authority.  It  gave  Peking  an 
excuse  to  despatch  and  maintain  a  considerable 
force  at  Seoul,  for  the  first  time  for  hundreds  of 
years. 

The  Japanese  tried  to  turn  the  affair  to  their  ad- 
vantage by  demanding  still  more  concessions.  The 
Korean  rulers  found  it  hard  to  refuse  these  de- 
termined little  men.  So  they  adopted  a  policy  of 
procrastination,  arguing  endlessly.  Now  Japan 
was  in  a  hurry,  and  could  not  wait. 

The  Japanese  Minister  at  Seoul  at  this  time  was 
Takezoi,  timid  and  hesitating  constitutionally, 
but,  like  many  timid  folk,  acting  at  times  with  great 
rashness.  Under  him  was  a  subordinate  of  stronger 
and  rougher  type,  Shumamura,  Secretary  to  the 
Legation.  Shumamura  kept  in  touch  with  a  group 
of  Cabinet  Ministers  who  had  been  to  Japan  and 
regarded  Japan  as  their  model.  They  mourned  to- 
gether over  the   growth   of   Chinese   power,   and 

28 


JAPAN  MAKES  A  FALSE  MOVE  29 

agreed  that  it  was  threatening  the  independence  of 
the  country.  They  repeated  the  rumour  that  a 
secret  treaty  had  actually  been  signed  by  the  King, 
recognizing  Chinese  supremacy  in  more  binding 
form  than  ever  before.  They  felt  that  the  Queen 
was  against  them.  Her  nephew,  Min  Yung-ik,  had 
been  on  their  side  when  he  returned  from  America. 
Now,  under  her  influence,  he  had  taken  the  other 
side. 

Kim  Ok-kiun,  leader  of  the  malcontents,  was  an 
ambitious  and  restless  politician,  eager  to  have  the 
control  of  money.  One  of  his  chief  supporters  was 
Pak  Yung-hyo,  relative  of  the  King,  twenty-three 
years  old,  and  a  sincere  reformer.  Hong  Yung-sik, 
keen  on  foreign  ways,  was  a  third.  He  was  hun- 
gry for  power.  He  was  the  new  Postmaster  Gen- 
eral, and  a  building  now  being  erected  in  Seoul  for 
a  new  post-office  was  to  mark  the  entry  of  Korea 
into  the  world's  postal  service.  So  Kwang-pom, 
another  Minister,  was  working  with  them. 

Kim  Ok-kiun  and  Shumamura  had  long  confer- 
ences. They  discussed  ways  and  means.  The  re- 
formers were  to  overthrow  the  reactionaries  in  the 
Cabinet  by  the  only  possible  way,  killing  them ;  they 
were  then  in  the  King's  name  to  grant  Japan  fur- 
ther commercial  concessions,  and  the  Japanese 
were  to  raise  a  considerable  loan  which  should  be 
handed  over  to  Kim  for  necessary  purposes. 

Takezoi  was  on  a  visit  to  Tokyo  when  his 
deputy  and  the  Korean  came  to  an  understanding. 
They  were  rather  anxious  to  have  the  whole  thing 


30  KOREANS  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

through  before  his  return,  for  they  knew,  as  every 
one  knew,  that  Takezoi  was  not  the  best  man  for 
a  crisis.  But  when  the  Minister  returned  from 
Tokyo  there  was  none  so  bold  as  he.  He  boasted 
to  his  friends  that  Japan  had  at  last  resolved  to 
make  war  on  China,  and  that  every  Chinaman 
would  soon  be  driven  out  of  the  land.  He  received 
Kim  and  heard  of  his  plans  with  satisfaction. 
There  would  be  no  trouble  about  money.  A  few 
Japanese  in  Seoul  itself  would  arrange  all  that  was 
necessary.     Let  the  thing  be  done  quickly. 

It  had  been  customary  for  the  Legations  only  to 
drill  their  soldiers  in  daytime,  and  to  inform  the 
Government  before  they  were  taken  out  to  public 
places.  But  one  night  Takezoi  had  his  Japanese 
troops  turned  out,  marched  up  the  great  hill, 
Namzan,  commanding  the  city,  and  drilled  there. 
When  asked  why  he  did  it,  he  cheerfully  replied 
that  he  had  just  made  an  experiment  to  see  how 
far  he  could  startle  the  Chinese  and  Koreans;  and 
he  was  quite  satisfied  with  the  result. 

He  sought  an  interview  with  the  King.  He  had 
brought  back  the  400,000  yen  which  Japan  had 
exacted  as  indemnity  for  the  Hanabusa  outrage. 
Japan  desired  Korea's  friendship,  he  declared,  not 
her  money.  He  also  brought  a  stand  of  Japanese- 
made  rifles,  a  gift  from  the  Emperor  to  the  King, 
and  a  very  significant  gift,  too.  The  Minister  urged 
on  the  King  the  helpless  condition  of  China,  and  the 
futility  of  expecting  assistance  from  her,  and 
begged  the  King  to  take  up  a  bold  position,  an- 


JAPAN  MAKES  A  FALSE  MOVE  31 

nounce  Korea's  independence  and  dare  China's 
wrath.     The  King  listened,  but  made  no  pledges. 

Kim  and  the  Japanese  Secretary  called  in  their 
allies,  to  discuss  how  to  strike.  One  scheme  pro- 
posed was  that  they  should  send  two  men,  dis- 
guised as  Chinese,  to  kill  two  of  the  Ministers  they 
had  marked  as  their  victims.  Then  they  would 
charge  the  other  Ministers  with  the  deed  and  kill 
them.  Thus  they  would  get  rid  of  all  their  enemies 
at  a  blow.  A  second  plan  was  that  Kim  should  in- 
vite the  Ministers  to  the  fine  new  house  he  had 
built,  should  entertain  them  and  then  kill  them. 
Unfortunately  for  Kim,  the  Ministers  were  not 
willing  to  come  to  his  house.  He  had  invited  them 
all  to  a  grand  banquet  shortly  before,  and  only  a 
few  had  accepted. 

"  Make  haste !  "  urged  Shumamura.  "  Japan  is 
ready  for  anything."  At  last  some  one  hit  on  a 
happy  scheme.  Twenty-two  young  Koreans  had 
been  sent  to  Japan  to  learn  modern  military  ways, 
and  had  studied  at  the  Toyama  Military  School  at 
Tokyo.  Returning  home,  they  had  given  an  ex- 
hibition of  their  physical  drill  and  fencing  before 
the  King,  who  was  as  delighted  with  them  as  a 
child  with  a  new  toy.  He  had  declared  that  he 
would  have  all  his  army  trained  this  way.  The 
leader  of  the  students,  So  Jai-pil,  nephew  of  one  of 
the  King's  favourite  generals,  was  made  a  Colonel 
of  the  Palace  Guard,  although  only  seventeen  years 
old.  But  despite  the  King,  the  old  military  leaders, 
whose  one  idea  of  martial  ardour  was  to  be  carried 


32  KOBEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

around  from  one  point  to  another  surrounded  with 
bearers  and  warriors  who  made  a  loud  noise  to 
impress  the  crowd,  shuddered  at  the  idea  of  reform, 
and  managed  to  block  it.  The  students  were  kick- 
ing their  heels  idly  around  the  palace.  Here  were 
the  very  lads  for  the  job.  Appeal  to  their  patriot- 
ism. Let  them  do  the  killing,  and  their  seniors 
take  the  glory.     And  so  it  was  decided. 

The  Japanese  were  talking  so  boastingly  that  it 
would  be  surprising  if  the  Chinese  had  learned 
nothing.  At  the  head  of  the  Chinese  troops  was 
Yuan  Shih-kai,  afterwards  to  prove  himself  the 
strongest  man  in  the  Middle  Kingdom  and  to  over- 
throw the  Manchu  dynasty.  He  said  nothing,  but 
it  does  not  follow  that  he  did  nothing.  At  a  dinner 
given  to  the  Foreign  Representatives,  the  Inter- 
preter to  the  Japanese  Legation  delivered  a  speech 
in  Korean  on  the  shameless  unscrupulousness  and 
cowardice  of  the  Chinese.  He  even  went  so  far  as 
to' call  them  "sea  slugs,"  giving  a  malicious  glance 
at  the  Chinese  Consul-General  while  he  spoke. 
The  Chinese  official  did  not  know  Korean,  but  he 
could  understand  enough  of  the  speech  to  follow  its 
import. 

The  plans  were  now  complete.  Every  victim 
had  two  assassins  assigned  to  him.  The  occasion 
was  to  be  the  opening  of  the  new  post-office,  when 
Hong  Yung-sik  would  give  an  official  banquet  to 
which  all  must  come.  During  the  dinner,  the  de- 
tached palace  was  to  be  set  on  fire,  a  call  was  to  be 
raised  that  the  King  was  in  danger,  and  the  re- 


JAPAN  MAKES  A  FALSE  MOVE  33 

actionary  Ministers  were  to  be  killed  as  they  rushed 
to  his  help.  Two  of  the  students  were  appointed 
sentries,  two  were  to  set  fire  to  the  palace,  one 
group  was  to  wait  at  the  Golden  Gate  for  other 
members  of  the  Government  who  tried  to  escape 
that  way.  Four  young  Japanese,  including  one 
from  the  Legation,  were  to  act  as  a  reserve  guard, 
to  complete  the  killing  in  case  the  Koreans  failed. 
The  Commander  of  the  Palace  Guard,  a  strong 
sympathizer,  posted  his  men  in  such  a  way  as  to 
give  the  conspirators  a  free  hand.  The  Japanese 
Minister  promised  that  his  soldiers  would  be  ready 
to  cooperate  at  the  right  time. 

On  the  afternoon  of  December  4th,  the  Japanese 
Legation  people  busied  themselves  with  fetching 
ammunition  and  provisions  from  the  barracks.  In 
the  afternoon  a  detachment  of  soldiers  came  over. 
They  knew  that  the  deed  was  to  be  done  that  night. 

The  dinner  was  held,  according  to  plan.  It  was 
a  singularly  harmonious  gathering — up  to  a  point. 
Many  were  the  jokes  and  pointed  was  the  wit. 
The  gesang  (geisha),  spurred  by  the  merriment  of 
their  lords,  did  more  than  ever  to  amuse  the  guests. 
The  drink  was  not  stinted. 

Then  there  came  a  call  of  "  Fire !  "  It  was  the 
duty  of  Min  Yung-ik,  as  General  Commanding  the 
right  Guard  Regiment,  to  keep  the  custody  of  the 
fire  apparatus.  Deploring  his  rough  luck  in  being 
called  to  duty  at  such  a  time,  he  left  the  hall  and, 
surrounded  by  his  braves  and  attendants,  who  were 
waiting  for  him  in  the  anteroom,  made  his  way  to 


34  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

his  yungmun,  or  official  residence.  When  he  was 
near  the  post-office  five  young  men,  armed  with 
sharp  swords,  suddenly  broke  through  his  guard, 
killed  one  of  the  soldiers  and  attacked  the  Minister. 
"  He  received  seven  sword  slashes,  all  great  ones, 
two  all  but  taking  his  head  off,"  wrote  a  contem- 
porary chronicler.  He  staggered  back  into  the 
banqueting  hall,  blood  pouring  from  him.  There 
was  at  once  great  confusion.  The  Ministers  not 
in  the  plot,  fearing  that  some  ill  was  intended 
against  them,  threw  away  their  hats  of  state,  turned 
their  coats,  and  concealed  themselves  amongst  their 
coolies.  Fortunately  for  Min,  just  as  the  palace 
doctors  were  about  to  attempt  to  stop  his  wounds 
by  pouring  boiling  wax  on  them,  a  modern  surgeon 
came  hurrying  up.  He  was  Dr.  Allen,  an  Amer- 
ican Presbyterian  missionary,  the  first  to  arrive  in 
Korea.  He  did  such  good  work  on  his  patient  that 
night  that  King  and  Court  became  friends  of  the 
missionaries  for  ever  on. 

Leaving  the  banqueting  hall,  Pak  Yung-kyo  and 
his  companions  at  once  hurried  to  the  palace,  in- 
formed the  King  that  a  Great  Event  had  happened, 
and  told  him  that  he  and  the  Queen  must  go  with 
them  for  their  safety.  They  took  him  to  the  Tai 
Palace,  near  at  hand.  Here  they  were  at  once  sur- 
rounded by  the  Japanese  troops,  by  the  students, 
and  some  800  Korean  soldiers,  under  General  Han 
Kiu-chik,  who  commanded  one  of  the  four  regi- 
ments of  the  Palace  Guard. 

The   King  and   Queen  were   of  course   accom- 


JAPAN  MAKES  A  FALSE  MOVE  35 

panied  by  their  own  attendants.  The  Chief  Eunuch, 
who  was  among  them,  took  General  Han  on  one 
side.  "  This  is  a  very  serious  matter,"  he  urged. 
"  Let  us  send  for  General  Yuan  and  the  Chinese." 
General  Han  apparently  weakened  and  agreed. 
There  was  no  weakening  on  the  part  of  the  stu- 
dents. The  Chief  Eunuch  and  the  General  were 
"  one  by  one  withdrawn  from  the  King's  presence  " 
and  when  outside  were  promptly  despatched. 
Then  the  King  was  bidden  to  write  notes  to  his 
chief  anti-Progressive  Ministers,  summoning  them 
to  his  presence.  As  they  arrived,  "  one  by  one, 
each  in  his  turn,  was  despatched  by  the  students 
and  his  body  thrown  aside." 

The  King  called  for  the  Japanese  Minister.  At 
first  he  would  not  come.  Finally  he  appeared. 
He  had  arranged  that  most  of  the  work  was  to  be 
done  without  his  presence,  in  order  to  avoid  diplo- 
matic trouble.  A  number  of  edicts  had  been  drawn 
up  which  the  King  was  obliged  to  sign.  All  kinds 
of  reforms  were  commanded,  and  the  land  was 
made  on  paper,  in  an  hour,  into  a  modern  state. 
The  reformers  did  not  forget  their  own  interests. 
Hong  Yung-sik,  the  Postmaster  General,  was  made 
Prime  Minister,  Kim  Ok-kiun  was  made  second 
officer  of  the  Royal  Treasury,  and  the  lad  So  Jai-pil, 
on  whom  the  chief  command  of  the  students  and 
Korean  soldiers  now  devolved,  was  made  General 
Commanding  a  Guard  Regiment. 

In  answer  to  his  urgent  entreaties,  the  King 
was  allowed  next  morning  to  return  to  his  palace, 


36  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

the  Japanese  and  the  Progressives  accompanying 
him.  It  was  soon  clear,  even  to  the  reformers,  that 
they  had  gone  too  far.  As  news  of  the  affair  be- 
came known,  the  people  made  their  sentiments  felt 
in  unmistakable  fashion.  Odd  Japanese  in  the 
streets  were  killed,  others  made  their  way  to  the 
Legation  and  shut  themselves  in  there,  while  the 
Japanese  Minister  and  the  Progressives  were 
hemmed  in  the  palace  by  an  angry  mob. 

They  were  short  of  ammunition.  The  Japanese 
had  twenty-five  rounds  a  man,  the  twenty-two 
students  had  fifteen  rounds  apiece,  and  the  eight 
hundred  Korean  soldiers  either  had  none  or 
destroyed  what  they  had.  There  was  plenty  in  the 
Legation  but  the  mob  barred  the  way.  General  So 
Jai-pil  (to  give  him  his  new  title)  was  on  the  move 
day  and  night,  going  from  outpost  to  outpost, 
threatening  and  encouraging  weaklings,  and  ar- 
ranging and  inspiring  his  men. 

The  affair  started  on  the  evening  of  December 
4th ;  the  reformers  remained  in  the  palace  until  the 
afternoon  of  December  7th.  Then  General  Yuan 
Shih-kai,  the  Chinese  leader,  approached  the  palace 
gates  and  sent  in  his  card,  demanding  admission. 
The  Queen  had  already  smuggled  a  message  out  to 
him  begging  his  aid.  The  Japanese  soldiers  on 
guard  refused  to  allow  him  to  enter.  He  gave 
warning  that  he  would  attack.  He  had  2,000 
Chinese  troops  and  behind  them  were  fully  3,000 
Korean  soldiers  and  the  mass  of  the  population. 

Takezoi  weakened.     He  did  not  want  to  risk  an 


JAPAN  MAKES  A  FALSE  MOVE  37 

engagement  with  the  Chinese,  and  he  declared  that 
he  would  withdraw  his  Guard,  and  take  them  back 
to  his  Legation.  Young  General  So  drew  his 
sword  threateningly,  and  told  him  that  they  must 
stay  and  see  it  through.  The  Japanese  captain  in 
command  of  the  troops  was  as  eager  for  a  fight  as 
was  So,  and  the  Minister  was  for  the  time  over- 
ruled. 

A  great  fight  followed.  The  Chinese  sought  to 
outflank  the  reformers,  and  to  force  an  entry  by 
climbing  over  the  walls.  One  of  the  personal  at- 
tendants of  the  King  suddenly  attacked  the  new 
Premier,  Hong  Yung-sik,  and  slew  him.  The 
Korean  soldiers  seemed  to  disappear  from  the  scene 
as  soon  as  the  real  fighting  started,  but  the  students 
and  the  Japanese  did  valiantly.  They  claimed  that 
they  shot  fully  three  hundred  Chinese.  The  great 
gate  of  the  palace  still  held,  in  spite  of  all  attacks. 
But  the  ammunition  of  the  defenders  had  at  last  all 
gone. 

"  Let  us  charge  the  Chinese  with  our  bayonets," 
cried  So.  The  Japanese  captain  joyfully  assented. 
But  Takezoi  now  asserted  his  authority.  He  pulled 
from  his  pocket  his  Imperial  warrants  giving  him 
supreme  command  of  the  Japanese  in  Korea  and 
read  them  to  the  captain.  "  The  Emperor  has 
placed  you  under  my  command,"  he  declared. 
"  Refuse  to  obey  me  and  you  refuse  to  obey  your 
Emperor.  I  command  you  to  call  your  men  to- 
gether and  let  us  all  make  our  way  back  to  the 
Legation."     There  was  nothing  to  do  but  obey. 


38  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

While  the  Chinese  were  still  hammering  at  the 
front  gate,  the  Japanese  and  reformers  crept  quietly 
around  by  the  back  wall  towards  the  Legation. 
The  people  in  the  building,  hearing  this  mass  of 
men  approach  in  the  dark,  unlit  street,  thought  that 
they  were  the  enemy,  and  opened  fire  on  them.  A 
Japanese  sergeant  and  an  interpreter  were  shot 
down  on  either  side  of  General  So.  Not  until  a 
bugle  was  sounded  did  the  Japanese  inside  the 
building  recognize  their  friends.  The  party 
staggered  in  behind  the  barricades  worn  out.  So, 
who  had  not  closed  his  eyes  for  four  days,  dropped 
to  the  ground  exhausted  and  slept. 

He  did  not  awake  until  the  next  afternoon.  He 
heard  a  voice  calling  him,  and  started  up  to  find  that 
the  Japanese  were  already  leaving.  They  had  re- 
solved to  fight  their  way  to  the  sea.  "  I  do  not 
know  who  it  was  called  me,"  said  So,  afterwards. 
"  Certainly  it  was  none  of  the  men  in  the  Legation. 
I  sometimes  believe  that  it  must  have  been  a  voice 
from  the  other  world."  Had  he  wakened  five 
minutes  later,  the  mob  would  have  caught  him  and 
torn  him  to  bits. 

The  Japanese  blew  up  a  mine,  and,  with  women 
and  children  in  the  centre,  flung  themselves  into 
the  maelstrom  of  the  howling  mob.  The  people  of 
Seoul  were  ready  for  them.  They  had  already 
burned  the  houses  of  the  Progressive  statesmen, 
Kim,  Pak,  So  and  Hong.  They  tried,  time  after 
time,  to  rush  the  Japanese  circle.  The  escaping 
party  marched  all  through  the  night,  fighting  as  it 


JAPAN  MAKES  A  FALSE  MOVE  39 

marched.  At  one  point  it  had  to  pass  near  a 
Chinese  camp.  A  cannon  opened  fire  on  it.  At 
Chemulpo,  the  coast  port  twenty-seven  miles  from 
Seoul,  it  found  a  small  Japanese  mail  steamer,  the 
Chidose  Maru.  The  Koreans  who  had  escaped  with 
the  party  were  hidden.  Before  the  Chidose  could 
sail  a  deputation  from  the  King  arrived,  disclaim- 
ing all  enmity  against  the  Japanese,  but  demanding 
the  surrender  of  the  Koreans.  Takezoi  seemed  to 
hesitate,  and  the  reformers  feared  for  the  moment 
that  he  was  about  to  surrender  them.  But  the 
pockmarked  captain  of  the  Chidose  drove  the 
deputation  from  the  side  of  his  ship,  in  none  too 
friendly  fashion,  and  steamed  away. 

The  reformers  landed  in  Japan,  expecting  that 
they  would  be  received  like  heroes,  and  that  they 
would  return  with  a  strong  army  to  fight  the 
Chinese.  They  did  not  realize  that  the  revolu- 
tionist who  fails  must  look  for  no  sympathy  or  aid. 

The  Japanese  Foreign  Minister  at  first  refused 
even  to  see  them.  When  at  last  they  secured  an 
audience,  he  told  them  bluntly  that  Japan  was  not 
going  to  war  with  China  over  the  matter.  "  We 
are  not  ready  yet,"  said  he.  He  then  demanded  of 
the  reformers  what  they  were  going  to  do  with 
themselves.  This  was  too  much  for  So  Jai-pil. 
His  seniors  tried  to  restrain  him,  but  in  vain. 
"  What  way  is  this  for  Samurai  to  treat  Samurai?  " 
he  hotly  demanded.  "  We  trusted  you,  and  now  you 
betray  and  forsake  us.  I  have  had  enough  of  you. 
I  am  going  to  a  new  world,  where  men  stand  by 


40  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

their  bonds  and  deal  fairly  with  one  another.  I 
shall  go  to  America." 

A  few  weeks  later  he  landed  in  San  Francisco, 
penniless.  He  knew  scarcely  any  English.  He 
sought  work.  His  first  job  was  to  deliver  circulars 
from  door  to  door,  and  for  this  he  was  paid  three 
dollars  a  day.  He  attended  churches  and  meetings 
to  learn  how  to  pronounce  the  English  tongue.  He 
saved  money  enough  to  enter  college,  and  gradu- 
ated with  honours.  He  became  an  American  citi- 
zen, taking  a  new  form  of  his  name,  Philip  Jaisohn. 
He  joined  the  United  States  Civil  Service  and  in 
due  course  was  made  a  doctor  of  medicine  by  Johns 
Hopkins  University.  He  acquired  a  practice  at 
Washington,  and  was  lecturer  for  two  medical 
schools.  Later  on,  he  was  recalled  to  his  native 
land. 

The  Korean  reformers  themselves  saw,  later  on, 
the  folly  of  their  attempt.  "  We  were  very  young," 
they  say.  They  were  the  tools  of  the  Japanese 
Minister,  and  they  had  inherited  a  tradition  of 
political  life  which  made  revolt  seem  the  natural 
weapon  by  which  to  overthrow  your  enemies. 
They  learned  wisdom  in  exile,  and  some  of  them 
were  subsequently  to  reach  high  rank  in  their  coun- 
try's service. 

There  is  a  sequel  to  this  story.  The  King  and 
the  Court  regarded  Kim  Ok-kiun  as  the  unpardon- 
able offender.  Other  men  might  be  forgiven,  for 
after  all  attempted  revolts  were  no  novelties.  But 
there  was  to  be  no  forgiveness  for  Kim. 


JAPAN  MAKES  A  FALSE  MOVE  41 

A  price  was  put  on  his  head.  Assassins  followed 
him  to  Japan,  but  could  find  no  opportunity  to  kill 
him.  Then  a  plot  was  planned  and  he  was  induced 
to  visit  Shanghai.  He  had  taken  great  pains  to  con- 
ceal his  visit,  but  everything  had  been  arranged 
ahead  for  him.  Arriving  at  Shanghai  he  was 
promptly  slain,  and  his  body  was  carried  in  a 
Chinese  war-ship  to  Chemulpo.  It  was  cut  up, 
and  exhibited  in  different  parts  of  the  land  as  the 
body  of  a  traitor.  The  mortified  Japanese  could 
do  nothing  at  the  time. 

Years  passed.  The  Japanese  now  had  control  of 
Korea.  One  of  the  last  things  they  did,  in  1910, 
before  contemptuously  pushing  the  old  Korean 
Government  into  limbo,  was  to  make  it  issue  an 
Imperial  rescript,  restoring  Kim  Ok-kiun,  Hong 
Yung-sik  and  others — although  long  dead — to  their 
offices  and  honours,  and  doing  reverence  to  their 
memory.1 

1  Curiosity  may  be  felt  about  my  authority  for  many  of  the 
particulars  supplied  in  this  chapter.  Accounts  published  by 
foreigners  living  at  Seoul  at  the  time  are  of  use  as  giving 
current  impressions,  but  are  not  wholly  to  be  relied  on  for 
details.  A  very  interesting  official  report,  based  on  informa- 
tion supplied  by  the  King,  is  to  be  found  in  the  unpublished 
papers  of  Lieutenant  George  C.  Foulk,  U.  S.  Naval  Attache  at 
Seoul,  which  are  stored  in  the  New  York  Public  Library.  A 
valuable  account  from  the  Japanese  point  of  view  was  found 
among  the  posthumous  papers  of  Mr.  Fukuzawa  (in  whose 
house  several  of  the  exiles  lived  for  a  time)  and  was  published 
in  part  in  the  Japanese  press  in  1910.  I  learned  the  con- 
spirators' side  directly  from  one  of  the  leading  actors  in 
the  drama. 


Ill 

THE  MURDER  OF  THE  QUEEN 

"  X  "X"  TE  are  not  ready  to  fight  China  yet,"  said 
%/%/  the  Japanese  Foreign  Minister  to  the 
*  7  impetuous  young  Korean.  It  was  ten 
years  later  before  Japan  was  ready,  ten  years  of 
steady  preparation,  and  during  that  time  the  real 
focus  of  the  Far  Eastern  drama  was  not  Tokyo 
nor  Peking,  but  Seoul.  Here  the  Chinese  and 
Japanese  outposts  were  in  contact.  Here  Japan 
when  she  was  ready  created  her  cause  of  war. 

China  despised  Japan,  and  did  not  think  it  neces- 
sary to  make  any  real  preparations  to  meet  her. 
The  great  majority  of  European  experts  and  of 
European  and  American  residents  in  the  Far  East 
were  convinced  that  if  it  came  to  an  actual  con- 
test, Japan  would  stand  no  chance.  She  might 
score  some  initial  victories,  but  in  the  end  the 
greater  weight,  numbers  and  staying  power  of  her 
monster  opponent  must  overwhelm  her. 

The  development  of  Korea  proceeded  slowly. 
It  seemed  as  though  there  were  some  powerful 
force  behind  all  the  efforts  of  more  enlightened 
Koreans  to  prevent  effective  reforms  from  being 
carried  out.  The  Japanese  were,  as  was  natural, 
the  most  numerous  settlers  in  the  land,  and  their 

42 


THE  MUEDER  OP  THE  QUEEN  43 

conduct  did  not  win  them  the  popular  affection. 
Takezoi's  disastrous  venture  inflicted  for  a  time 
a  heavy  blow  on  Japanese  prestige.  The  Japanese 
dead  lay  unburied  in  the  streets  for  the  dogs  to  eat. 
China  was  momentarily  supreme.  "  The  whole 
mass  of  the  people  are  violently  pro-Chinese  in  their 
sentiments,"  the  American  representative  stated  in 
a  private  despatch  to  his  Government,  "  and  so 
violently  anti-Japanese  that  it  is  impossible  to  ob- 
tain other  than  a  volume  of  execrations  and 
vituperations  against  them  when  questioned."  A 
semi-official  Japanese  statement  that  their  Minister 
and  his  troops  had  gone  to  the  palace  at  the  King's 
request,  to  defend  him,  made  the  matter  rather 
worse. 

The  affair  would  have  been  more  quickly  for- 
gotten but  for  the  overbearing  attitude  of  Japanese 
settlers  towards  the  Korean  people,  and  of  Japa- 
nese Ministers  towards  the  Korean  Government. 
Officially  they  advanced  claims  so  unjust  that  they 
aroused  the  protest  of  other  foreigners.  The  atti- 
tude of  the  Japanese  settlers  was  summed  up  by 
Lord  (then  the  Hon.  G.  N.)  Curzon,  the  famous 
British  statesman,  after  a  visit  in  the  early  nineties. 
"  The  race  hatred  between  Koreans  and  Japanese," 
he  wrote,  "is  the  most  striking  phenomenon  in 
contemporary  Chosen.  Civil  and  obliging  in  their 
own  country,  the  Japanese  develop  in  Korea  a 
faculty  for  bullying  and  bluster  that  is  the  result 
partly  of  nation  vanity,  partly  of  memories  of  the 
past.     The  lower  orders  ill-treat  the  Koreans  on 


44  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

every  possible  opportunity,  and  are  cordially  de- 
tested by  them  in  return."  * 

The  old  Regent  returned  from  China  in  1885,  to 
find  his  power  largely  gone,  at  least  so  far  as  the 
Court  was  concerned.  But  he  still  had  friends  and 
adherents  scattered  all  over  the  country.  Furious 
with  the  Chinese  for  his  arrest  and  imprisonment, 
he  threw  himself  into  the  arms  of  the  Japanese. 
They  found  in  him  a  very  useful  instrument. 

Korea  has  for  centuries  been  a  land  of  secret 
societies.  A  new  society  now  sprang  up,  and 
spread  with  amazing  rapidity,  the  Tong-haks.  It 
was  anti-foreign  and  anti-Christian,  and  Europeans 
were  at  first  inclined  to  regard  it  in  the  same  light 
as  Europeans  in  China  later  on  regarded  the 
Boxers.  But  looking  back  at  it  to-day  it  is  im- 
possible to  deny  that  there  was  much  honest  patriot- 
ism behind  the  movement.  It  was  not  unnatural 
that  a  new  departure,  such  as  the  introduction  of 
Europeans  and  European  civilization  should  arouse 
some  ferment.  In  a  sense,  it  would  not  have  been 
healthy  if  it  had  not  done  so.  The  people  who 
would  accept  a  vital  revolution  in  their  life  and 
ways  without  critical  examination  would  not  be 
worth  much. 

Few  of  the  Tong-haks  had  any  idea  that  their 
movement  was  being  organized  under  Japanese  in- 
fluences. It  did  not  suit  Japan  that  Korea  should 
develop  independently  and  too  rapidly.  Disturb- 
ances would  help  to  keep  her  back. 

* "  Problems  of  the  Far  East,"  London,  1894. 


THE  MURDER  OF  THE  QUEEN      45 

When  the  moment  was  ripe,  Japan  set  her 
puppets  to  work.  The  Tong-haks  were  suddenly- 
found  to  be  possessed  of  arms,  and  some  of  their 
units  were  trained  and  showed  remarkable  military 
efficiency.  Their  avowed  purpose  was  to  drive  all 
foreigners,  including  the  Japanese,  out  of  the  coun- 
try; but  this  was  mere  camouflage.  The  real  pur- 
pose was  to  provoke  China  to  send  troops  to  Korea, 
and  so  give  Japan  an  excuse  for  war. 

The  Japanese  had  secured  an  agreement  from 
China  in  1885  that  both  countries  should  withdraw 
their  troops  from  Korea  and  should  send  no  more 
there  without  informing  and  giving  notice  to  the 
other.  When  the  Tong-haks,  thirty  thousand  in 
number,  came  within  a  hundred  miles  of  Seoul,  and 
actually  defeated  a  small  Korean  force  led  by  Chi- 
nese, Yuan  Shih-kai  saw  that  something  must  be 
done.  If  the  rebels  were  allowed  to  reach  and 
capture  the  capital,  Japan  would  have  an  excuse 
for  intervention.  He  induced  the  King  to  ask  for 
Chinese  troops  to  come  and  put  down  the  uprising; 
and  as  required  by  the  regulations,  due  notice  of 
their  coming  was  sent  to  Japan. 

This  was  what  Japan  wanted.  She  poured 
troops  over  the  channel  until  there  were  10,000  in 
the  capital.  Then  she  showed  her  hand.  The 
Japanese  Minister,  Mr.  Otori,  brusquely  demanded 
of  the  King  that  he  should  renounce  Chinese 
suzerainty.  The  Koreans  tried  evasion.  The 
Japanese  pressed  their  point,  and  further  demanded 
wholesale     concessions,     railway     rights     and     a 


46  KOREAN  FIGHT  FOE  FREEDOM 

monopoly  of  gold  mining  in  Korea.  A  few  days 
later,  confident  that  Europe  would  not  intervene, 
they  commanded  the  King  to  accept  their  demands 
unconditionally,  and  to  give  the  Chinese  troops 
three  days'  notice  to  withdraw  from  the  land.  The 
King  refused  to  do  anything  while  the  Japanese 
troops  menaced  his  capital. 

The  declaration  of  war  between  Japan  and  China 
followed.  The  first  incident  was  the  blowing  up  by 
the  Japanese  of  a  Chinese  transport  carrying  1,200 
men  to  Korea.  The  main  naval  battle  was  in  the 
Yalu,  between  Korea  and  Manchuria,  and  the  main 
land  fight,  in  which  the  Chinese  Army  was  des- 
troyed, in  Pyeng-yang,  the  main  Korean  city  to  the 
north.  The  war  began  on  July  25,  1894;  the 
Treaty  of  Peace,  which  made  Japan  the  supreme 
power  in  the  Extreme  East,  was  signed  at  Shimo- 
noseki  on  April  17,  1895. 

Before  fighting  actually  began,  the  Japanese  took 
possession  of  Seoul,  and  seized  the  palace  on  some 
trumpery  excuse  that  Korean  soldiers  had  fired  on 
them  and  they  had  therefore  been  obliged  to  enter 
and  guard  the  royal  apartments.  They  wanted  to 
make  their  old  friend  and  ally  the  ex-Regent,  the 
actual  ruler,  as  he  had  been  in  the  King's  minority, 
but  he  did  not  care  to  take  responsibility.  Japa- 
nese soldiers  turned  the  King  out  of  his  best  rooms 
and  occupied  them  themselves.  Any  hole  was 
good  enough  for  the  King.  Finally  they  compelled 
the  King  to  yield  and  follow  their  directions.  A 
new  treaty  was  drawn  up  and  signed.     It  provided : 


THE  MUBDER  OP  THE  QUEEN     47 

1.  That  the  independence  of  Korea  was  de- 
clared, confirmed,  and  established,  and  in  keeping 
with  it  the  Chinese  troops  were  to  be  driven  out  of 
the  country. 

2.  That  while  war  against  China  was  being  car- 
ried on  by  Japan,  Korea  was  to  facilitate  the  move- 
ments and  to  help  in  the  food  supplies  of  the  Japa- 
nese troops  in  every  possible  way. 

3.  That  this  treaty  should  only  last  until  the 
conclusion  of  peace  with  China. 

Japan  at  once  created  an  assembly,  in  the  name 
of  the  King,  for  the  "  discussion  of  everything, 
great  and  small,  that  happened  within  the  realm." 
This  assembly  at  first  met  daily,  and  afterwards  at 
longer  intervals.  There  were  soon  no  less  than 
fifty  Japanese  advisers  at  work  in  Seoul.  They 
were  men  of  little  experience  and  less  responsibility, 
and  they  apparently  thought  that  they  were  going 
to  transform  the  land  between  the  rising  and  setting 
of  the  sun.  They  produced  endless  ordinances,  and 
scarce  a  day  went  by  save  that  a  number  of  new 
regulations  were  issued,  some  trivial,  some  striking 
at  the  oldest  and  most  cherished  institutions  in  the 
country.  The  Government  was  changed  from  an 
absolute  monarchy  to  one  where  the  King  gov- 
erned only  by  the  advice  of  his  Ministers.  The 
power  of  direct  address  to  the  throne  was  denied 
to  any  one^  under  the  rank  of  Governor.  One 
ordinance  created  a  constitution,  and  the  next  dealt 
with  the  status  of  the  ladies  of  the  royal  seraglio. 
At  one  hour  a  proclamation  went  forth  that  all  men 


48  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FREEDOM 

were  to  cut  their  hair,  and  the  wearied  runners  on 
their  return  were  again  despatched  hot  haste  with 
an  edict  altering  the  official  language.  Nothing 
was  too  small,  nothing  too  great,  and  nothing 
too  contradictory  for  these  constitution-mongers. 
Their  doings  were  the  laugh  and  the  amazement 
of  every  foreigner  in  the  place. 

Acting  on  the  Japanese  love  of  order  and  of  de- 
fined rank,  exact  titles  of  honour  were  provided  for 
the  wives  of  officials.  These  were  divided  into  nine 
grades :  "  Pure  and  Reverend  Lady,"  "  Pure  Lady," 
"Chaste  Lady,"  "Chaste  Dame,"  "Worthy  Dame," 
"Courteous  Dame,"  "Just  Dame,"  "Peaceful 
Dame,"  and  "  Upright  Dame."  At  the  same  time 
the  King's  concubines  were  equally  divided,  but 
here  eight  divisions  were  sufficient:  "Mistress,'' 
"  Noble  Lady,"  "  Resplendent  Exemplar,"  "  Chaste 
Exemplar,"  "  Resplendent  Demeanour,"  "  Chaste 
Demeanour,"  "  Resplendent  Beauty,"  and  "  Chaste 
Beauty."  The  Japanese  advisers  instituted  a  num- 
ber of  sumptuary  laws  that  stirred  the  country  to  its 
depths,  relating  to  the  length  of  pipes,  style  of 
dress,  and  the  attiring  of  the  hair  of  the  people. 
Pipes  were  to  be  short,  in  place  of  the  long  bamboo 
churchwarden  beloved  by  the  Koreans.  Sleeves 
were  to  be  clipped.  The  topknot,  worn  by  all 
Korean  men,  was  at  once  to  be  cut  off.  Soldiers 
at  the  city  gates  proceeded  to  enforce  this  last 
regulation  rigorously. 

Japanese  troops  remained  in  the  palace  for  a 
month,  and  the  King  was  badly  treated  during  that 


THE  MUBDEB  OF  THE  QUEEK  49 

time.  It  did  not  suit  the  purpose  of  the  Japanese 
Government  just  then  to  destroy  the  old  Korean 
form  of  administration.  It  was  doubtful  how  far 
the  European  Powers  would  permit  Japan  to  ex- 
tend her  territory,  and  so  the  Japanese  decided  to 
allow  Korea  still  to  retain  a  nominal  independence. 
The  King  and  his  Ministers  implored  Mr.  Otori  to 
withdraw  his  soldiers  from  the  royal  presence.  Mr. 
Otori  agreed  to  do  so,  at  a  price,  and  his  price  was 
the  royal  consent  to  a  number  of  concessions  that 
would  give  Japan  almost  a  monopoly  of  industry 
in  Korea.  The  Japanese  guard  marched  out  of  the 
palace  on  August  25th,  and  was  replaced  by  Korean 
soldiers  armed  with  sticks.  Later  on  the  Korean 
soldiers  were  permitted  to  carry  muskets,  but  were 
not  served  with  any  ammunition.  Japanese  troops 
still  retained  possession  of  the  palace  gates  and  ad- 
joining buildings. 

Another  movement  took  place  at  this  time  as  the 
result  of  Japanese  supremacy.  The  Min  family — 
the  family  of  the  Queen — was  driven  from  power 
and  the  Mins,  who  a  few  months  before  held  all  the 
important  offices  in  the  kingdom,  were  wiped  out 
of  public  life,  so  much  so  that  there  was  not  a 
single  Min  in  one  of  the  new  departments  of  state. 

Victory  did  not  improve  the  attitude  of  the  Japa- 
nese to  the  Koreans.  While  the  war  was  on  the 
Japanese  soldiers  had  shown  very  strict  discipline, 
save  on  certain  unusual  occasions.  Now,  however, 
they  walked  as  conquerors.  The  Japanese  Gov- 
ernment presented  further  demands  to  the  King 


60  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

that  would  have  meant  the  entire  trade  of  Korea 
being  monopolized  by  their  countrymen.  These 
demands  went  so  far  that  the  foreign  representa- 
tives protested. 

The  new  Japanese  Minister,  Count  Inouye,  pro- 
tested publicly  and  privately  against  the  violent 
ways  and  rascalities  of  the  new  Japanese  immi- 
grants pouring  into  Korea.  He  denounced  their 
lack  of  cooperation,  arrogance  and  extravagance. 
"  If  the  Japanese  continue  in  their  arrogance  and 
rudeness,"  he  declared,  "  all  respect  and  love  due 
to  them  will  be  lost  and  there  will  remain  hatred 
and  enmity  against  them." 

Several  of  the  participants  in  the  emeute  of  1884 
were  brought  back  by  the  Japanese  and  Pak  Yung- 
hyo  became  Home  Minister.  He  was  very  differ- 
ent from  the  rash  youth  who  had  tried  to  promote 
reform  by  murder  eleven  years  before.  He  had  a 
moderate,  sensible  program,  the  reform  and  mod- 
ernization of  the  army,  the  limitation  of  the  powers 
of  the  monarchy  and  the  promotion  of  education 
on  Western  lines.  "  What  our  people  need,"  he 
declared,  "  is  education  and  Christianization."  Un- 
fortunately he  fell  under  suspicion.  The  Queen 
thought  that  his  attempt  to  limit  the  power  of  the 
King  was  a  plot  against  the  throne.  He  received 
warning  that  his  arrest  had  been  ordered,  and  had 
to  flee  the  country. 

Count  Inouye  ranks  with  Prince  Ito  as  the  two 
best  Japanese  administrators  sent  to  Korea.  He 
was  followed,  in  September,  1895,  by  Viscount  Gen- 


THE  MURDER  OF  THE  QUEEN  51 

eral  Miura,  an  old  soldier,  a  Buddhist  of  the  Zen 
school  and  an  extreme  ascetic. 

The  Queen  continued  to  exercise  her  remarkable 
influence  over  the  King,  who  took  her  advice  in 
everything.  She  was  the  real  ruler  of  the  country. 
What  if  her  family  was,  for  a  time,  in  disgrace? 
She  quietly  worked  and  brought  them  back  in  of- 
fice again.  Time  after  time  she  checked  both  the 
Japanese  Minister  and  the  Regent. 

The  Japanese  Secretary  of  Legation,  Fukashi 
Sugimura,  had  long  since  lost  patience  with  the 
Queen  and  urged  on  Miura  that  the  best  thing  was 
to  get  rid  of  her.  Why  should  one  woman  be  al- 
lowed to  stand  between  them  and  their  purpose? 
Every  day  she  was  interfering  more  and  more  in 
the  affairs  of  state.  She  was  proposing  to  disband 
a  force  of  troops  that  had  been  created,  the  Kun- 
rentai,  and  placed  under  Japanese  officers.  It  was 
reported  that  she  was  contemplating  a  scheme  for 
usurping  all  political  power  by  degrading  some  and 
killing  other  Cabinet  Ministers  favourable  to 
Japan.  Miura  agreed.  She  was  ungrateful.  Dis- 
order and  confusion  would  be  introduced  into  the 
new  Japanese  organization  for  governing  the  coun- 
try.    She  must  be  stopped. 

While  Miura  was  thinking  in  this  fashion  the 
Regent  came  to  see  him.  He  proposed  to  break 
into  the  palace,  seize  the  King  and  assume  real 
power.  As  a  result  of  their  conversation,  a  con- 
ference was  held  between  the  Japanese  Minister 
and  his  two  leading  officials,  Sugimura  and  Oka- 


52  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

moto.  "  The  decision  arrived  at  on  that  occasion," 
states  the  report  of  the  Japanese  Court  of  Pre- 
liminary Enquiries,  "  was  that  assistance  should  be 
rendered  to  the  Tai  Won  Kun's  (Regent's)  entry 
into  the  palace  by  making  use  of  the  Kunrentai, 
who,  being  hated  by  the  Court,  felt  themselves  in 
danger,  and  of  the  young  men  who  deeply  lamented 
the  course  of  events,  and  also  by  causing  the  Japa- 
nese troops  stationed  in  Seoul  to  offer  support  to 
the  enterprise.  It  was  further  resolved  that  this 
opportunity  should  be  availed  of  for  taking  the  life 
of  the  Queen,  who  exercised  overwhelming  in- 
fluence in  the  Court."  * 

The  whole  thing  was  to  be  done  according  to 
system.  The  Regent  was  made  to  bind  himself 
down  to  the  Japanese.  A  series  of  pledges  was 
drawn  up  by  Sugimura,  and  handed  to  the  Regent, 
saying  that  this  was  what  Miura  expected  of  him. 
He,  his  son  and  his  grandson  "  gladly  assented  "  to 
the  conditions  and  he  wrote  a  letter  guaranteeing 
his  good  faith.  The  Japanese  Minister  then  re- 
solved to  carry  out  the  plan,  i.  e.,  the  attack  on  the 
palace  and  the  murder  of  the  Queen,  by  the  middle 
of  the  month.  A  statement  by  the  Korean  War 
Minister  that  the  disbandment  of  the  Kunrentai 
troops  was  approaching  caused  them  to  hurry  their 
plans.  "  It  was  now  evident  that  the  moment  had 
arrived,  and  that  no  more  delay  should  be  made. 
Miura  Goro  and  Fukashi  Sugimura  consequently 
determined  to  carry  out  the  plot  on  the  night  of 
Japanese  official  report, 


THE  MUEDEE  OF  THE  QUEEN  53 

that  very  day."  '  The  Legation  drew  up  a  detailed 
program  of  what  was  to  happen,  and  orders  were 
issued  to  various  people.  Official  directions  were 
given  to  the  Commander  of  the  Japanese  battalion 
in  Seoul.  Miura  summoned  some  of  the  Japanese 
and  asked  them  to  collect  their  friends  and  to  act 
as  the  Regent's  body-guard  when  he  entered  the 
palace.  "  Miura  told  them  that  on  the  success  of 
the  enterprise  depended  the  eradication  of  the  evils 
that  had  done  so  much  mischief  in  the  Kingdom  for 
the  past  twenty  years,  and  instigated  them  to  des- 
patch the  Queen  when  they  entered  the  palace."  2 
The  head  of  the  Japanese  police  force  was  ordered 
to  help;  and  policemen  off  duty  were  to  put  on 
civilian  dress,  provide  themselves  with  swords 
and  proceed  to  the  rendezvous.  Minor  men, 
"  at  the  instigation  of  Miura,  decided  to  murder 
the  Queen  and  took  steps  for  collecting  accom- 
plices." " 

The  party  of  Japanese  met  at  the  rendezvous,  to 
escort  the  Regent's  palanquin.  At  the  point  of 
departure  Okamoto  (one  of  the  Japanese  Minister's 
two  right-hand  men)  "  assembled  the  whole  party 
outside  the  gate  of  the  Prine's  (Regent's)  resi- 
dence, declaring  that  on  entering  the  palace  the 
*  fox '  should  be  dealt  with  according  as  exigency 
might  require,  the  obvious  purpose  of  this  declara- 
tion being  to  instigate  his  followers  to  murder  Her 
Majesty  the  Queen."  4  The  party  proceeding  to- 
wards Seoul  met  the  Kunrentai  troops  outside  the 

Japanese  official  report.       *  Ibid.       3  Ibid.       4  Ibid. 


64  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

West  Gate  and  then  advanced  more  rapidly  to  the 
palace. 

The  Japanese  Court  of  Preliminary  Enquiries, 
which  had  Viscount  Miura  and  his  assistants  before 
it  after  the  murder,  reported  all  the  facts  up  to  this 
point  with  great  frankness.  I  have  used  its  ac- 
count solely  in  the  above  description.  The  Court 
having  gone  so  far,  then  added  a  final  finding  which 
probably  ranks  as  the  most  extraordinary  state- 
ment ever  presented  by  a  responsible  Court  of  law. 
"  Notwithstanding  these  facts,  there  is  no  sufficient 
evidence  to  prove  that  any  of  the  accused  actually 
committed  the  crime  originally  meditated  by  them. 
.  .  .  For  these  reasons  the  accused,  each  and 
all,  are  hereby  discharged.,, 

What  happened  after  the  Regent  and  the  Japa- 
nese reached  the  palace?  The  party  advanced, 
with  the  Kunrentai  troops  to  the  front.  Behind 
them  were  the  police,  the  officers  in  charge,  and 
twenty-six  Japanese.  An  inner  group  of  these, 
about  half  of  them,  had  special  orders  to  find  the 
Queen  and  kill  her.  The  gates  of  the  palace  were 
in  the  hands  of  Japanese  soldiers,  so  the  con- 
spirators had  free  admission.  Most  of  the  regular 
troops  paraded  outside,  according  to  orders.  Some 
went  inside  the  grounds,  accompanied  by  the  rabble, 
and  others  moved  to  the  sides  of  the  palace,  sur- 
rounding it  to  prevent  any  from  escaping.  A  body 
of  men  attacked  and  broke  down  the  wall  near  to 
the  royal  apartments. 

Rumours  had  reached  the  palace  that  some  plot 


THE  MURDER  OF  THE  QUEEN  55 

was  in  progress,  but  no  one  seems  to  have  taken 
much  trouble  to  maintain  special  watch.  At  the 
first  sign  of  the  troops  breaking  down  the  walls 
and  entering  through  the  gates,  there  was  general 
confusion.  Some  of  the  Korean  body-guard  tried 
to  resist,  but  after  a  few  of  them  were  shot  the 
others  retired.  The  royal  apartment  was  of  the 
usual  one-storied  type,  led  to  by  a  few  stone  steps, 
and  with  carved  wooden  doors  and  oiled-paper 
windows.  The  Japanese  made  straight  for  it,  and, 
when  they  reached  the  small  courtyard  in  front, 
their  troops  paraded  up  before  the  entrance,  while 
the  soshi  broke  down  the  doors  and  entered  the 
rooms.  Some  caught  hold  of  the  King  and  pre- 
sented him  with  a  document  by  which  he  was  to 
divorce  and  repudiate  the  Queen.  Despite  every 
threat,  he  refused  to  sign  this.  Others  were  press- 
ing into  the  Queen's  apartments.  The  Minister  of 
the  Household  tried  to  stop  them,  but  was  killed 
on  the  spot.  The  soshi  seized  the  terrified  palace 
ladies,  who  were  running  away,  dragged  them 
round  and  round  by  their  hair,  and  beat  them,  de- 
manding that  they  should  tell  where  the  Queen 
was.  They  moaned  and  cried  and  declared  that 
they  did  not  know.  Now  the  men  were  pressing 
into  the  side-rooms,  some  of  them  hauling  the 
palace  ladies  by  their  hair.  Okamoto,  who  led  the 
way,  found  a  little  woman  hiding  in  a  corner, 
grabbed  her  head,  and  asked  her  if  she  were  the 
Queen.  She  denied  it,  freed  herself,  with  a  sudden 
jerk,  and  ran  into  the  corridor,  shouting  as  she  ran. 


\ 


56  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

Her  son,  who  was  present,  heard  her  call  his  name 
three  times,  but,  before  she  could  utter  more,  the 
Japanese  were  on  her  and  had  cut  her  down.  Some 
of  the  female  attendants  were  dragged  up,  shown 
the  dying  body,  and  made  to  recognize  it,  and  then 
three  of  them  were  put  to  the  sword. 

The  conspirators  had  brought  kerosene  with 
them.  They  threw  a  bedwrap  around  the  Queen, 
probably  not  yet  dead,  and  carried  her  to  a  grove 
of  trees  in  the  deer  park  not  far  away.  There  they 
poured  the  oil  over  her,  piled  faggots  of  wood 
around,  and  set  all  on  fire.  They  fed  the  flames 
with  more  and  more  kerosene,  until  everything  was 
consumed,  save  a  few  bones.  Almost  before  the 
body  was  alight  the  Regent  was  being  borne  in 
triumph  to  the  palace  under  an  escort  of  trium- 
phant Japanese  soldiers.  He  at  once  assumed  con- 
trol of  affairs.  The  King  was  made  a  prisoner  in 
his  palace.  The  Regent's  partizans  were  sum- 
moned to  form  a  Cabinet,  and  orders  were  given 
that  all  officials  known  to  be  friendly  to  the  Queen's 
party  should  be  arrested. 

The  Japanese  were  not  content  with  this.  They 
did  everything  they  could,  the  Regent  aiding  them, 
to  blacken  the  memory  of  the  murdered  women. 
A  forged  Royal  Decree,  supposed  to  have  been 
issued  by  the  King,  was  officially  published,  de- 
nouncing Queen  Min,  ranking  her  among  the  low- 
est prostitutes,  and  assuming  that  she  was  not 
dead,  but  had  escaped,  and  would  again  come  for- 
ward. "  We  knew  the  extreme  of  her  wickedness,'' 
said  the  decree,  "  but  We  were  helpless  and  full  of 


THE  MUEDER  OP  THE  QUEEN  57 

fear  of  her  party,  and  so  could  not  dismiss  and  pun- 
ish her.  We  are  convinced  that  she  is  not  only 
unfitted  and  unworthy  to  be  Queen,  but  also  that 
her  guilt  is  excessive  and  overflowing.  With  her 
We  could  not  succeed  to  the  glory  of  the  Royal 
ancestors,  so  We  hereby  depose  her  from  the  rank 
of  Queen  and  reduce  her  to  the  level  of  the  lowest 
class." 

The  poor  King,  trembling,  broken,  fearful  of  be- 
ing poisoned,  remained  closely  confined  in  his  pal- 
ace. The  foreign  community,  Ministers  and  mis- 
sionaries, did  their  best  for  him,  conveying  him 
food  and  visiting  him. 

If  the  Japanese  thought  that  their  crime  could 
be  hushed  up  they  were  much  mistaken.  Some  of 
the  American  missionaries,  wives  were  the  Queen's 
friends.  A  famous  American  newspaper  man,  Colo- 
nel Cockerill,of  the  New  York  Herd d,  came  to  Seoul, 
and  wrote  with  the  utmost  frankness  about  what  he 
learned.  So  much  indignation  was  aroused  that 
the  Japanese  Government  promised  to  institute  an 
enquiry  and  place  the  guilty  on  trial.  Ito  was  then 
Prime  Minister  and  declared  that  every  unworthy 
son  of  Japan  connected  with  the  crime  would  be 
placed  on  trial.  "  Not  to  do  so  would  be  to  con- 
demn Japan  in  the  eyes  of  all  the  world,"  he  de- 
clared. "  If  she  does  not  repudiate  this  usurpation 
on  the  part  of  the  Tai  Won  Kun,  she  must  lose  the 
respect  of  every  civilized  government  on  earth." 
Miura  and  his  associates  were,  in  due  course, 
brought  before  a  court  of  enquiry.  But  the  pro- 
ceedings were  a  farce.     They  were  all  released, 


58  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

Miura  became  a  popular  hero,  and  his  friends  and 
defenders  tried  openly  to  justify  the  murder. 

Japan,  following  her  usual  plan  of  following  pe- 
riods of  great  harshness  by  spells  of  mildness,  sent 
Count  Inouye  as  Envoy  Extraordinary,  to  smooth 
over  matters.  He  issued  a  decree  restoring  the 
late  Queen  to  full  rank.  She  was  given  the  posthu- 
mous title  of  "  Guileless,  revered  "  and  a  temple 
called  "  Virtuous  accomplishment "  was  dedicated 
to  her  memory.  Twenty-two  officials  of  high  rank 
were  commissioned  to  write  her  biography.  But 
the  King  was  still  kept  a  prisoner  in  the  palace. 

Then  came  a  bolt  from  the  blue.  The  Rus- 
sian Minister  at  Seoul  at  this  time,  M.  Waeber, 
was  a  man  of  very  fine  type,  and  he  was  backed  by 
a  wife  as  gifted  and  benevolent  as  himself.  He 
had  done  his  best  to  keep  in  touch  with  and  help 
the  King.  Now  a  further  move  was  made.  The 
Russian  Legation  guard  was  increased  to  160  men, 
and  almost  immediately  afterwards  it  was  an- 
nounced that  the  King  had  escaped  from  his 
jailers  at  the  palace,  and  had  taken  refuge  with 
the  Russians.  A  little  before  seven  in  the  morning 
the  King  and  Crown  Prince  left  the  palace  secretly, 
in  closed  chairs,  such  as  women  use.  Their  escape 
was  carefully  planned.  For  more  than  a  week  be- 
fore, the  ladies  of  the  palace  had  caused  a  number 
of  chairs  to  go  in  and  out  by  the  several  gates  in 
order  to  familiarize  the  guards  with  the  idea  that 
they  were  paying  many  visits.  So  when,  early  in 
the  morning,  two  women's  chairs  were  carried  out 
tyy  the  attendants,  the  guards  took  no  special  no- 


THE  MURDER  OF  THE  QUEEN      59 

tice.  The  King  and  his  son  arrived  at  the  Russian 
Legation  very  much  agitated  and  trembling.  They 
were  expected,  and  were  at  once  admitted.  As  it 
is  the  custom  in  Korea  for  the  King  to  work  at 
night  and  sleep  in  the  morning,  the  members  of 
the  Cabinet  did  not  discover  his  escape  for  some 
hours,  until  news  was  brought  to  them  from  out- 
side that  he  was  safe  under  the  guardianship  of  his 
new  friends. 

Excitement  at  once  spread  through  the  city. 
Great  crowds  assembled,  some  armed  with  sticks, 
some  with  stones,  some  with  any  weapons  they 
could  lay  hands  on.  A  number  of  old  Court  dig- 
nitaries hurried  to  the  Legation,  and  within  an 
hour  or  two  a  fresh  Cabinet  was  constituted,  and 
the  old  one  deposed. 

The  heads  of  the  Consulates  and  Legations 
called  and  paid  their  respects  to  the  King,  the 
Japanese  Minister  being  the  last  to  do  so.  For 
him  this  move  meant  utter  defeat.  Later  in  the 
day,  a  proclamation  was  spread  broadcast,  calling 
on  the  soldiers  to  protect  their  King,  to  cut  off  the 
heads  of  the  chief  traitors  and  bring  them  to  him. 
This  gave  final  edge  to  the  temper  of  the  mob. 
Two  Ministers  were  dragged  into  the  street  and 
slaughtered.  Another  Minister  was  murdered  at 
his  home.  In  one  respect  the  upheaval  brought 
peace.  The  people  in  the  country  districts  had 
been  on  the  point  of  rising  against  the  Japanese, 
who  were  reported  to  be  universally  hated  as  op- 
pressors. With  their  King  in  power  again,  they 
settled  down  peaceably. 


THE  INDEPENDENCE   CLUB 

IT  was  a  double  blow  to  Japan  that  the  check 
to  her  plans  should  have  been  inflicted  by 
Russia,  for  she  now  regarded  Russia  as  the 
next  enemy  to  be  overthrown,  and  was  already 
secretly  preparing  against  her.  Russia  had  suc- 
ceeded in  humiliating  Japan  by  inducing  France 
and  Germany  to  cooperate  in  a  demand  that  she 
should  evacuate  the  Liaotung  Peninsula,  ceded  to 
her,  under  the  Treaty  of  Shimonoseki,  by  China. 
Forced  to  obey,  Japan  entered  on  another  nine 
years  of  preparation,  to  enable  her  to  cross  swords 
with  the  Colossus  of  the  North. 

At  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century  Russia 
was  regarded  as  the  supreme  menace  to  world 
peace.  Her  expansion  to  the  south  of  Siberia 
threatened  British  power  in  India;  her  railway  de- 
velopments to  the  Pacific  threatened  Japan.  She 
struggled  for  a  dominating  place  in  the  councils  of 
China  and  was  believed  to  have  cast  an  ambitious 
eye  on  Korea.  Germany  looked  with  dread  on  the 
prospect  of  France  and  Russia  striking  her  on 
either  side  and  squeezing  her  like  a  nut  between 
the  crackers.     Her  statesmen  were  eager  to  obtain 

60 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  CLUB  61 

egress  to  the  seas  of  the  south,  through  the  Darda- 
nelles, and  years  before  it  had  become  a  part  of  the 
creed  of  every  British  schoolboy  that  "  the  Rus- 
sians shall  not  enter  Constantinople." 

It  was  dread  of  what  Russia  might  do  that 
caused  England,  to  the  amazement  of  the  world, 
to  conclude  an  Alliance  with  Japan  in  1902,  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  status  quo  in  the  Far  East. 
Japan,  willing  under  certain  conditions  to  forget 
her  grievances,  had  first  sought  alliance  with  Rus- 
sia and  had  sent  Prince  Ito  on  a  visit  to  St.  Peters- 
burg for  that  purpose.  But  Russia  was  too  proud 
and  self-confident  to  contemplate  any  such  step, 
and  so  Japan  turned  to  Britain,  and  obtained  a 
readier  hearing.  Under  the  Alliance,  both  Britain 
and  Japan  disclaimed  any  aggressive  tendencies  in 
China  or  Korea,  but  the  special  interests  of  Japan 
in  Korea  were  recognized. 

The  Alliance  was  an  even  more  important  step 
forward  for  Japan  in  the  ranks  of  the  nations  of  the 
world  than  her  victory  against  China  had  been,  and 
it  was  the  precursor  of  still  more  important  devel- 
opments. This,  however,  takes  us  ahead  of  our 
story. 

The  King  of  Korea,  after  his  escape  from  the 
palace,  remained  for  some  time  in  the  Russian  Le- 
gation, conducting  his  Court  from  there.  Agree- 
ments were  arrived  at  between  the  Russians,  Japa- 
nese and  Koreans  in  1896  by  which  the  King  was 
to  return  to  his  palace  and  Japan  was  to  keep  her 
people  in  Korea  in  stricter  control.     A  small  body 


62  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

of  Japanese  troops  was  to  remain  for  a  short  time 
in  Korea  to  guard  the  Japanese  telegraph  lines, 
when  it  was  to  be  succeeded  by  some  Japanese 
gendarmerie  who  were  to  stay  "  until  such  time  as 
peace  and  order  have  been  restored  by  the  Govern- 
ment." Both  countries  agreed  to  leave  to  Korea 
the  maintenance  of  her  own  national  army  and 
police. 

These  agreements  gave  the  Korean  monarch — 
who  now  took  the  title  of  Emperor — a  final  chance 
to  save  himself  and  his  country.  The  Japanese 
campaign  of  aggression  was  checked.  Russia,  at 
the  time,  was  behaving  with  considerable  circum- 
spection. A  number  of  foreign  advisers  were  in- 
troduced, and  many  reforms  were  initiated.  Pro- 
gressive statesmen  were  placed  at  the  head  of  af- 
fairs, and  the  young  reformer,  So  Jai-pil,  Dr.  Philip 
Jaisohn,  was  summoned  from  America  as  Adviser 
to  the  Privy  Council. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  results  were  on  the 
whole  disappointing.  Certain  big  reforms  were 
made.  In  the  period  between  1894  and  1904  the 
developments  would  have  seemed  startling  to  those 
who  knew  the  land  in  the  early  eighties.  There 
was  a  modern  and  well-managed  railroad  operating 
between  Seoul  and  the  port  of  Chemulpo,  and 
other  railroads  had  been  planned  and  surveyed, 
work  being  started  on  some  of  them.  Seoul  had 
electric  light,  electric  tramways  and  an  electric 
theatre.  Fine  roads  had  been  laid  around  the  city. 
Many  old  habits  of  mediaeval  times  had  been  abol- 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  CLUB  63 

ished.  Schools  and  hospitals  were  spreading  all 
over  the  land,  largely  as  a  result  of  missionary  ac- 
tivity. Numbers  of  the  people,  especially  in  the 
north,  had  become  Christians.  Sanitation  was  im- 
proved, and  the  work  of  surveying,  charting  and 
building  lighthouses  for  the  waters  around  the 
coast  begun.  Many  Koreans  of  the  better  classes 
went  abroad,  and  young  men  were  returning  after 
graduation  in  American  colleges.  The  police  were 
put  into  modern  dress  and  trained  on  modern  lines; 
and  a  little  modern  Korean  Army  was  launched. 

Despite  this,  things  were  in  an  unsatisfactory 
state.  The  Emperor,  whose  nerve  had  been 
broken  by  his  experiences  on  the  night  of  the  mur- 
der of  the  Queen  and  in  the  days  following,  was 
weak,  uncertain  and  suspicious.  He  could  not  be 
relied  on  save  for  one  thing.  He  was  very  jealous 
of  his  own  prerogatives,  and  the  belief  that  some  of 
his  best  statesmen  and  advisers  were  trying  to  es- 
tablish constitutional  monarchy,  limiting  the  power 
of  the  Throne,  finally  caused  him  to  throw  in  his 
lot  with  the  anti-Progressive  group. 

Then  there  was  no  real  reform  in  justice.  The 
prisons  retained  most  of  their  mediaeval  horrors, 
and  every  man  held  his  life  and  property  at  the 
mercy  of  the  monarch  and  his  assistants. 

Some  of  the  foreign  advisers  were  men  of  high 
calibre;  others  were  unfitted  for  their  work,  and 
used  their  offices  to  serve  their  own  ends  and  fill 
their  own  pockets.  Advisers  or  Ministers  and  for- 
eign contractors  apparently  agreed  at  times  to  fill 


64  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM: 

their  pockets  at  the  cost  of  the  Government. 
There  is  no  other  rational  explanation  of  some  of 
the  contracts  concluded,  or  some  of  the  supplies  re- 
ceived. The  representatives  of  the  European 
Powers  and  America  were  like  one  great  happy 
family,  and  the  life  of  the  European  and  American 
community  in  Seoul  was  for  a  long  time  ideal. 
There  came  one  jarring  experience  when  a  Govern- 
ment— it  would  be  unkind  to  mention  which — sent 
a  Minister  who  was  a  confirmed  dipsomaniac.  For 
days  after  his  arrival  he  was  unable  to  see  the  Min- 
isters of  State  who  called  on  him,  being  in  one  long 
debauch.  The  members  of  his  Legation  staff  had 
to  keep  close  watch  on  him  until  word  could  be  sent 
home,  when  he  was  promptly  recalled. 

The  young  Koreans  who  were  given  power  as 
Ministers  and  Advisers  after  the  Monarch  escaped 
from  Japanese  control  were  anxious  to  promote  re- 
form and  education,  and  to  introduce  some  plan  of 
popular  administration.  They  were  aided  by  one 
British  official,  Mr.  (now  Sir  John)  McLeavy 
Brown.  Mr.  Brown,  trained  in  the  Chinese  Cus- 
toms Service,  was  given  charge  of  the  Korean 
Treasury  and  Customs,  at  the  instigation  of  the 
British  Government.  It  was  hoped  that  this  ap- 
pointment indicated  that  the  British  Government 
would  take  a  more  active  interest  in  Korean  affairs. 
Unfortunately  Korea  was  far  away,  and  the  pre- 
vailing idea  in  England  at  the  time  was  to  escape 
any  more  over-seas  burdens. 

Mr.  Brown  was  the  terror  of  all  men  who  re- 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  CLUB  66 

garded  the  national  treasure  chest  as  the  plunder 
box.  Even  the  King  found  his  extravagance 
checked,  and  Imperial  schemes  were  delayed  and 
turned  from  mere  wasteful  squanderings  to  some 
good  purpose.  When,  for  example,  the  Emperor 
announced  his  determination  to  build  a  great  new 
memorial  palace  to  the  late  Queen,  Mr.  Brown 
pointed  out  that  the  first  thing  to  do  was  to  build 
a  fine  road  to  the  spot.  The  road  was  built,  to  the 
permanent  gain  of  the  nation,  and  the  palatial  me- 
morial waited.  Old  debts  were  paid  off.  The  na- 
tion was  making  money  and  saving. 

A  national  economist  always  arouses  many 
foes.  The  popular  man  is  the  man  who  spends 
freely.  Officials  who  found  their  own  gains  lim- 
ited and  the  sinecure  posts  for  their  relatives  cut 
down  united  against  the  British  guardian  of  the 
purse.  Just  about  this  time  Russian  control  was 
changed.  M.  Waeber  left  Seoul,  to  the  universal 
regret  of  all  who  knew  him,  and  was  succeeded  by 
M.  de  Speyer,  who  displayed  the  most  aggressive 
aspects  of  the  Russian  expansionist  movement.  A 
Russian  official  was  appointed  Mr.  Brown's  suc- 
cessor and  for  a  beginning  doubled  the  salaries  of 
the  Korean  office  holders.  This  brought  many  of 
the  Korean  office  holders  in  line  against  Mr.  Brown. 
The  latter  held  on  to  his  office  despite  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  Russian,  and  when  an  active  attempt 
was  made  to  turn  him  from  his  office,  the  British 
Fleet  appeared  in  Chemulpo  Harbour.  Mr. 
Brown  was  to  be  backed  by  all  the  force  of  Eng- 


66  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

land.  The  Russians  yielded  and  Mr.  Brown  re- 
mained on  at  the  head  of  the  Customs,  but  did  not 
retain  full  control  over  the  Treasury. 

Had  Britain  or  America  at  this  time  taken  a  hand 
in  the  administration  of  Korean  affairs,  much  future 
trouble  would  have  been  avoided.  They  would  have 
done  so  as  part  of  their  Imperial  task  of  "  bearing 
the  burden  of  weaker  nations."  Many  Koreans 
desired  and  tried  to  obtain  the  intervention  of 
America,  but  the  United  States  had  not  then  real- 
ized to  the  extent  she  was  to  do  later  that  great 
power  brings  great  responsibilities,  not  for  your 
nation  alone,  but  for  all  the  world  that  has  need  of 
you. 

During  the  period  of  active  reform  following  the 
King's  escape,  the  Progressives  formed  a  league 
for  the  maintenance  of  Korean  union.  At  their 
head  was  Dr.  Philip  Jaisohn,  the  boy  General  of 
1884.  The  movement  was  one  of  considerable  im- 
portance. In  response  to  my  request,  Dr.  Jaisohn 
has  written  the  following  description  of  what  took 
place : 

THE  INDEPENDENCE  CLUB 

"  Early  in  1896  I  went  back  to  Korea  after  an  absence 
of  twelve  years,  at  the  urgent  invitation  of  some  Koreans 
who  at  that  time  held  high  positions  in  the  government. 
When  I  reached  Korea,  I  found  that  the  Koreans  who 
had  invited  me  had  left  their  government  positions, 
either  voluntarily  or  by  force,  and  they  were  not  to  be 
seen.  It  seemed  that  some  of  them  had  to  leave  the 
country  to  save  their  lives.  In  those  days  the  Korean 
government  changed  almost  every  month. 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  CLUB  67 

"At  first  I  tried  to  help  the  Korean  government  in  the 
capacity  of  Adviser  to  the  Privy  Council,  as  they  offered 
me  a  five  year  contract  to  serve  them  in  this  manner.  I 
accepted  the  offer  and  gave  some  advice.  For  the  first 
month  or  two  some  of  it  was  accepted  by  the  Emperor 
and  his  Cabinet  officers,  but  they  soon  found  that  if  they 
carried  out  this  advice,  it  would  interfere  with  some  of 
their  private  schemes  and  privileges.  They  informed  the 
Emperor  that  I  was  not  a  friend  of  his,  but  a  friend  of 
the  Korean  people,  which  at  that  time  was  considered 
treason.  My  influence  was  decreasing  every  day  at  the 
Court,  and  my  advice  was  ignored.  I  gave  up  the  idea  of 
helping  the  government  officially  and  planned  to  give  my 
services  to  the  Korean  people  as  a  private  individual. 

"  I  started  the  first  English  newspaper,  as  well  as  the 
first  Korean  newspaper,  both  being  known  as  The  Inde- 
pendent. At  first  this  was  only  published  semi-weekly, 
but  later  on,  every  other  day.  The  Korean  edition  of  this 
paper  was  eagerly  read  by  the  people  and  the  circulation 
increased  by  leaps  and  bounds.  It  was  very  encouraging 
to  me  and  I  believe  it  did  exert  considerable  influence  for 
good.  It  stopped  the  government  officials  from  com- 
mitting flagrant  acts  of  corruption,  and  the  people  looked 
upon  the  paper  as  a  source  of  appeal  to  their  ruler.  This 
little  sheet  was  not  only  circulated  in  the  capital  and 
immediate  vicinity,  but  went  to  the  remote  corners  of  the 
entire  kingdom.  A  pathetic  but  interesting  fact  is  that 
it  was  read  by  a  subscriber,  and  when  he  had  finished 
reading  it,  turned  it  over  to  his  neighbours,  and  in  this  way 
each  copy  was  read  by  at  least  200  people.  The  reason 
for  this  was  that  most  of  the  people  were  too  poor  to 
buy  the  paper,  and  it  was  also  very  hard  to  get  it  to  the 
subscribers,  owing  to  the  lack  of  proper  transportation 
facilities  at  that  time. 

"  After  the  paper  was  running  in  an  encouraging  man- 
ner, I  started  a  debating  club,  called  The  Independence 
Club,  and  leased  a  large  hall  outside  of  the  West  Gate 
which  was  originally  built  by  the  government  to  entertain 
foreign  envoys  who  visited  Korea  in  olden  times.  This 
hall  was  very  spacious  and  surrounded  by  considerable 


68  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FREEDOM 

ground  and  was  the  best  place  in  Korea  for  holding  public 
meetings.  When  this  club  was  organized  there  were  only 
half  a  dozen  members,  but  in  the  course  of  three  months 
the  membership  increased  to  nearly  10,000.  There  were 
no  obstacles  or  formalities  in  joining  it  and  no  dues  or 
admission  were  charged.  As  a  result,  many  joined,  some 
from  curiosity  and  some  for  the  sake  of  learning  the  way 
of  conducting  a  public  meeting  in  Parliamentary  fashion. 

"The  subjects  discussed  were  mostly  political  and 
economical  questions,  but  religion  and  education  were  not 
overlooked.  In  the  beginning  the  Koreans  were  shy 
about  standing  up  before  an  audience  to  make  a  public 
speech,  but  after  a  certain  amount  of  coaching  and 
encouragement  I  found  that  hundreds  of  them  could 
make  very  effective  speeches.  I  believe  the  Koreans  have 
a  natural  talent  for  public  speaking.  Of  course,  all  that 
was  said  in  these  meetings  was  not  altogether  logical  or 
enlightening;  nevertheless,  a  good  many  new  thoughts 
were  brought  out  which  were  beneficial.  Besides,  the 
calm  and  orderly  manner  in  which  various  subjects  were 
debated  on  equal  footing,  produced  a  wonderful  effect 
among  the  Korean  young  men  and  to  those  who  were  in 
the  audience. 

"  In  the  course  of  a  year  the  influence  of  this  club  was 
very  great  and  the  members  thought  it  was  the  most 
marvellous  institution  that  was  ever  brought  to  Korea. 
The  most  remarkable  thing  I  noticed  was  the  quick  and 
intelligent  manner  in  which  the  Korean  young  men 
grasped  and  mastered  the  intricacies  of  Parliamentary 
rule.  I  often  noticed  that  some  Korean  raised  a  question 
of  the  point  of  order  in  their  procedure  which  was  well 
taken,  worthy  of  expert  Parliamentarians  of  the  Western 
countries. 

"  The  increasing  influence  of  the  Independence  Club 
was  feared  not  only  by  the  Korean  officials  but  by  some  of 
the  foreign  representatives,  such  as  Russia  and  Japan,  both 
of  whom  did  not  relish  the  idea  of  creating  public  opinion 
among  the  Korean  people.  The  members  of  the  Inde- 
pendence Club  did  not  have  any  official  status,  but  they 
enjoyed  the  privilege  of  free  speech  during  the  meeting 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  CLUB  69 

of  this  club,  and  they  did  not  hesitate  to  criticize  their 
own  officials,  as  well  as  those  of  the  foreign  nations  who 
tried  to  put  through  certain  schemes  in  Korea  for  the 
benefit  of  their  selfish  interests.  In  the  course  of  a  year 
and  a  half  the  opposition  to  this  club  developed  in  a 
marked  degree  not  among  the  people,  but  among  a  few 
government  officials  and  certain  members  of  the  foreign 
legations. 

"  The  first  time  in  Korean  history  that  democracy  made 
its  power  felt  in  the  government  was  at  the  time  Russia 
brought  to  Korea  a  large  number  of  army  officers  to  drill 
the  Korean  troops.  When  this  question  was  brought  up 
in  the  Independence  Club  debate,  and  the  scheme  was 
thoroughly  discussed  pro  and  con  by  those  who  took  part 
in  the  debate,  it  was  the  consensus  of  opinion  that  the 
turning  over  of  the  Military  Department  to  a  foreign 
power  was  suicidal  policy  and  they  decided  to  persuade 
the  government  to  stop  this  scheme.  The  next  day  some 
10,000  or  more  members  of  the  club  assembled  in  front 
of  the  palace,  and  petitioned  the  Emperor  to  cancel  the 
agreement  of  engaging  the  Russian  military  officers  as 
they  thought  it  was  a  dangerous  procedure.  The  Em- 
peror sent  a  messenger  out  several  times  to  persuade  them 
to  disperse  and  explain  to  the  people  that  there  was  no 
danger  in  engaging  the  Russians  as  military  instructors. 
But  the  people  did  not  disperse,  nor  did  they  accept  the 
Emperor's  explanation.  They  quietly  but  firmly  refused 
to  move  from  the  palace  gates  unless  the  contract  with 
Russia  was  cancelled. 

"  When  the  Russian  Minister  heard  of  this  demonstra- 
tion against  the  contract  he  wrote  a  very  threatening  letter 
to  the  Korean  government  to  the  effect  that  the  Korean 
government  must  disperse  the  people,  by  force  if  neces- 
sary, and  stop  any  talk  imputing  selfish  motives  on  the 
part  of  the  Russian  government.  If  this  was  not  stopped, 
the  Russian  government  would  withdraw  all  the  officers 
from  Korea  at  once,  and  Korea  would  have  to  stand  the 
consequences.  This  communication  was  shown  to  the 
people  with  the  explanation  that  if  they  insisted  upon 
cancelling  this  contract  dire  consequences  would  result 


70  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOB  FREEDOM 

to  Korea.  But  the  people  told  the  government  they 
would  stand  the  consequences,  whatever  they  would  be, 
but  would  not  have  Russian  officers  control  their  military 
establishment.  The  Korean  government  finally  asked  the 
Russian  Minister  to  withdraw  their  military  officers  and 
offered  to  pay  any  damage  on  account  of  the  cancellation 
of  the  contract.  This  was  done,  and  the  will  of  the  peo- 
ple was  triumphant. 

"  But  this  event  made  opposition  to  the  Independence 
Club  stronger  than  ever,  and  the  government  organized  an 
opposing  organization,  known  as  the  Pedlars'  Guild, 
which  was  composed  of  all  the  pedlars  of  the  country, 
to  counteract  the  influence  this  club  wielded  in  the  coun- 
try,   In  May,  1898,  I  left  Korea  for  the  United  States." 

Dr.  Jaisohn,  as  a  naturalized  American  citizen, 
was  immune  from  arrest  by  the  Korean  Govern- 
ment, and  the  worst  that  could  happen  to  him  was 
dismissal.  Another  young  man  who  now  came  to 
the  front  in  the  Independence  movement  could 
claim  no  such  immunity.  Syngman  Rhee,  son  of  a 
good  family,  training  in  Confucian  scholarship  to 
win  a  literary  degree  and  official  position,  heard 
with  contempt  and  dislike  the  tales  told  by  his 
friends  of  foreign  teachers  and  foreign  religion. 
His  parents  were  pious  Buddhists  and  Confucians, 
and  he  followed  their  faith.  Finding,  however, 
that  if  he  hoped  to  make  good  in  official  life  he 
must  know  English,  he  joined  the  Pai  Chai  mission 
school,  in  Seoul,  under  Dr.  Appenzeller.  He  be- 
came a  member  of  the  Independence  Club,  and  is- 
sued a  daily  paper  to  support  his  cause.  Young, 
fiery,  enthusiastic,  he  soon  came  to  occupy  a  promi- 
nent place  in  the  organization. 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  CLUB  71 

The  Independents  were  determined  to  have 
genuine  reform,  and  the  mass  of  the  people  were 
still  behind  them.  The  Conservatives,  who  op- 
posed them,  now  controlled  practically  all  official 
actions.  The  Independence  Club  started  a  popular 
agitation,  and  for  months  Seoul  was  in  a  ferment. 
Great  meetings  of  the  people  continued  day  after 
day,  the  shops  closing  that  all  might  attend.  Even 
the  women  stirred  from  their  retirement,  and  held 
meetings  of  their  own  to  plead  for  change.  To 
counteract  this  movement,  the  Conservative  party 
revived  and  called  to  its  aid  an  old  secret  society, 
the  Pedlars'  Guild,  which  had  in  the  past  been  a 
useful  agent  for  reaction.  The  Cabinet  promised 
fair  things,  and  various  nominal  reforms  were  out- 
lined. The  Independents'  demands  were,  in  the 
main,  the  absence  of  foreign  control,  care  in  grant- 
ing foreign  concessions,  public  trial  of  important 
offenders,  honesty  in  State  finance,  and  justice  for 
all.  In  the  end,  another  demand  was  added  to 
these  —  that  a  popular  representative  tribunal 
should  be  elected. 

When  the  Pedlars'  Guild  had  organized  its 
forces,  the  King  commanded  the  disbandment  of 
the  Independence  Club.  The  Independents  re- 
torted by  going  en  bloc  to  the  police  headquarters, 
and  asking  to  be  arrested.  Early  in  November, 
1898,  seventeen  of  the  Independent  leaders  were 
thrown  into  prison,  and  would  have  been  put 
to  death  but  for  public  clamour.  The  people  rose 
and  held  a  series  of  such  angry  demonstrations 


72  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

that,  at  the  end  of  five  days,  the  leaders  were  re- 
leased. 

The  Government  now,  to  quiet  the  people,  gave 
assurances  that  genuine  reforms  would  be  insti- 
tuted. When  the  mobs  settled  down,  reform  was 
again  shelved.  On  one  occasion,  when  the  citizens 
of  Seoul  crowded  into  the  main  thoroughfare  to 
renew  their  demands,  the  police  were  ordered  to 
attack  them  with  swords  and  destroy  them.  They 
refused  to  obey,  and  threw  ofl  their  badges,  saying 
that  the  cause  of  the  people  was  their  cause.  The 
soldiers  under  foreign  officers,  however,  had  no 
hesitation  in  carrying  out  the  Imperial  commands. 
As  a  next  move,  many  thousands  of  men,  acting  on 
an  old  national  custom,  went  to  the  front  of  the 
palace  and  sat  there  in  silence  day  and  night  for 
fourteen  days.  In  Korea  this  is  the  most  impress- 
ive of  all  ways  of  demonstrating  the  wrath  of  the 
nation,  and  it  greatly  embarrassed  the  Court. 

The  Pedlars'  Guild  was  assembled  in  another 
part  of  the  city,  to  make  a  counter  demonstration. 
Early  in  the  morning,  when  the  Independents  were 
numerically  at  their  weakest,  the  Pedlars  attacked 
them  and  drove  them  off.  On  attempting  to  re- 
turn they  found  the  way  barred  by  police.  Fight 
after  fight  occurred  during  the  next  few  days  be- 
tween the  popular  party  and  the  Conservatives, 
and  then,  to  bring  peace,  the  Emperor  promised  his 
people  a  general  audience  in  front  of  the  palace. 
The  meeting  took  place  amid  every  surrounding 
that  could  lend  it  solemnity.     The  foreign  repre- 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  CLUB  73 

sentatives  and  the  heads  of  the  Government  were 
in  attendance.  The  Emperor,  who  stood  on  a  spe- 
cially built  platform,  received  the  leaders  of  the 
Independents,  and  listened  to  their  statement  of 
their  case.  They  asked  that  the  monarch  should 
keep  some  of  his  old  promises  to  maintain  the  na- 
tional integrity  and  do  justice.  The  Emperor,  in 
reply,  presented  them  with  a  formal  document,  in 
which  he  agreed  to  their  main  demands. 

The  crowd,  triumphant,  dispersed.  The  organi- 
zation of  the  reformers  slackened,  for  they  thought 
that  victory  was  won.  Then  the  Conservative 
party  landed  some  of  its  heaviest  blows.  The  re- 
formers were  accused  of  desiring  to  establish  a 
republic.  Dissension  was  created  in  their  ranks  by 
the  promotion  of  a  scheme  to  recall  Pak  Yung-hio. 
Some  of  the  more  extreme  Independents  indulged 
in  wild  talk,  and  gave  excuse  for  official  repression. 
Large  numbers  of  reform  leaders  were  arrested  on 
various  pretexts.  Meetings  were  dispersed  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet,  and  the  reform  movement  was 
broken.  The  Emperor  did  not  realize  that  he  had, 
in  the  hour  that,  he  consented  to  crush  the  re- 
formers, pronounced  the  doom  of  his  own  Imperial 
house,  and  handed  his  land  over  to  an  alien  people. 

Dr.  Jaisohn  maintains  that  foreign  influence  was 
mainly  responsible  for  the  destruction  of  the  Inde- 
pendence Club.  Certain  Powers  did  not  wish 
Korea  to  be  strong.     He  adds : 

"  The  passing  of  the  Independence  Club  was  one  of 
the  most  unfortunate  things  in  the  history  of  Korea,  but 


74  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

there  is  one  consolation  to  be  derived  from  it,  and  that 
is,  the  seed  of  democracy  was  sown  in  Korea  through 
this  movement,  and  that  the  leaders  of  the  present  In- 
dependence Movement  in  Korea  are  mostly  members  of 
the  old  Independence  Club,  who  somehow  escaped  with 
their  lives  from  the  wholesale  persecution  that  followed 
the  collapse  of  the  Independence  Club.  Six  out  of  the 
eight  cabinet  members  elected  by  the  people  this  year, 
(1919)  were  the  former  active  members  of  the  In- 
dependence Club." 

-  Among  the  Independents  arrested  was  Syngman 
Rhee.  The  foreign  community,  which  in  a  sense 
stood  sponsor  for  the  more  moderate  of  the  Inde- 
pendents, brought  influence  to  bear,  and  it  was  un- 
derstood that  in  a  few  days  the  leaders  would  be 
released.  Some  of  them  were.  But  Rhee  and  a 
companion  broke  out  before  release,  in  order  to 
stir  up  a  revolt  against  the  Government.  By  a  mis- 
understanding their  friends  were  not  on  the  spot 
to  help  them,  and  they  were  at  once  recaptured. 

Rhee  was  now  exposed  to  the  full  fury  of  the 
Emperor's  wrath.  He  was  thrown  into  the  inner- 
most prison,  and  for  seven  months  lay  one  of  a  line 
of  men  fastened  to  the  ground,  their  heads  held 
down  by  heavy  cangues,  their  feet  in  stocks  and 
their  hands  fastened  by  chains  so  that  the  wrists 
were  level  with  the  forehead.  Occasionally  he  was 
taken  out  to  be  tormented,  in  ancient  fashion.  He 
expected  death,  and  rejoiced  when  one  night  he 
was  told  that  he  was  to  be  executed.  His  death 
was  already  announced  in  the  newspapers.  But 
when  the  guard  came  they  took,  not  Rhee,  but  the 
man  fastened  down  next  to  him,  to  whom  Rhee  had 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  CLUB  75 

smuggled  a  farewell  message  to  be  given  to  his 
father  after  his  death.  His  sentence  was  com- 
muted to  life  imprisonment. 

Lying  there,  the  mind  of  the  young  reformer 
went  back  to  the  messages  he  had  heard  at  the 
mission  school.  He  turned  to  the  Christians'  God, 
and  his  first  prayer  was  typical  of  the  man,  "  O 
God,  save  my  country  and  save  my  soul.,,  To  him, 
the  dark  and  fcetid  cell  became  as  the  palace  of 
God,  for  here  God  spoke  to  his  soul  and  he  found 
peace. 

He  made  friends  with  his  guards.  One  of  them 
smuggled  a  little  Testament  in  to  him.  From  the 
faint  light  of  the  tiny  window,  he  read  passage  after 
passage,  one  of  the  under-jailers  holding  the  book 
for  him — since  with  his  bound  hands  he  could  not 
hold  it  himself — and  another  waiting  to  give  warn- 
ing of  the  approach  of  the  chief  guard.  Man  after 
man  in  that  little  cell  found  God,  and  the  jailer  him- 
self was  converted. 

After  seven  months  of  the  hell  of  the  inner  cell, 
Rhee  was  shifted  to  roomier  quarters,  where  he 
was  allowed  more  freedom,  still,  however,  carrying 
chains  around  his  neck  and  body.  He  organized  a 
church  in  the  prison,  made  up  of  his  own  converts. 
Then  he  obtained  text-books  and  started  a  school. 
He  did  not  in  the  least  relax  his  own  principles. 
He  secretly  wrote  a  book  on  the  spirit  of  Inde- 
pendence during  his  imprisonment.  His  old  mis- 
sionary friends  sought  him  out  and  did  what  they 
could  for  him. 


76  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

Rhee  met  plenty  of  his  old  friends,  for  the  Con- 
servatives were  in  the  saddle  now,  and  were  arrest- 
ing and  imprisoning  Progressives  at  every  oppor- 
tunity. Among  the  newcomers  was  a  famous  old 
Korean  statesman,  Yi  Sang-jai,  who  had  formerly 
been  First  Secretary  to  the  Korean  Legation  at 
Washington.  Yi  incurred  the  Emperor's  displeas- 
ure and  was  thrown  into  prison.  He  entered  it 
strongly  anti-Christian;  before  two  years  were 
over  he  had  become  a  leader  of  the  Christian  band. 
In  due  course  Yi  was  released  and  became  Secre- 
tary of  the  Emperor's  Cabinet.  He  carried  his 
Christianity  out  with  him,  and  later  on,  when  he 
left  office,  became  Religious  Work  leader  of  the 
Seoul  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Yi  was  one  of  the  most  loved 
and  honoured  men  in  Korea.  Every  one  who  knew 
him  spoke  of  him  in  terms  of  confidence  and  praise. 

Syngman  Rhee  was  not  released  from  prison 
until  1904.  He  then  went  to  America,  graduated 
at  the  George  Washington  University,  took  M.  A.  at 
Harvard,  and  earned  his  Ph.  D.  at  Princeton.  He 
returned  to  Seoul  as  an  official  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A., 
but  rinding  it  impossible  to  settle  down  under  the 
Japanese  regime,  went  to  Honolulu,  where  he  be- 
came principal  of  the  Korean  School.  A  few  years 
later  he  was  chosen  first  President  of  the  Republic 
of  Korea. 

When  Russia  leased  the  Liaotung  Peninsula 
from  China,  after  having  prevented  Japan  from  re- 
taining it,  she  threw  Korea  as  a  sop  to  Japan.  A 
treaty  was  signed  by  which  both  nations  recog- 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  CLUB  77 

nized  the  independence  of  Korea,  but  Russia  defi- 
nitely recognized  the  supreme  nature  of  the  Japa- 
nese enterprises  and  interests  there,  and  promised 
not  to  impede  the  development  of  Japan's  commer- 
cial and  industrial  Korean  policy.  The  Russian 
military  instructors  and  financial  adviser  were  with- 
drawn from  Seoul. 

The  Emperor  of  Korea  was  still  in  the  hands  of 
the  reactionaries.  His  Prime  Minister  and  favour- 
ite was  Yi  Yung-ik,  the  one-time  coolie  who  had 
rescued  the  Queen,  and  was  now  the  man  at  the 
right  hand  of  the  throne. 

After  a  time  Russia  repented  of  her  generosity. 
She  sought  to  regain  control  in  Korea.  She  sent 
M.  Pavloff,  an  astute  and  charming  statesman,  to 
Seoul,  and  a  series  of  intrigues  began.  Yi  Yung-ik 
sided  with  the  Russians.     The  end  was  war. 

One  personal  recollection  of  these  last  days  be- 
fore the  war  remains  stamped  on  my  memory.  I 
was  in  Seoul  and  had  been  invited  to  an  interview 
with  Yi  Yung-ik.  Squatted  on  the  ground  in  his 
apartment  we  discussed  matters.  I  urged  on  him 
the  necessity  of  reform,  if  Korea  was  to  save  her- 
self from  extinction.  Yi  quickly  retorted  that 
Korea  was  safe,  for  her  independence  was  guaran- 
teed by  America  and  Europe. 

"  Don't  you  understand,"  I  urged,  "  that  treaties 
not  backed  by  power  are  useless.  If  you  wish  the 
treaties  to  be  respected,  you  must  live  up  to  them. 
You  must  reform  or  perish." 

"  It  does  not  matter  what  the  other  nations  are 


78  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

doing,"  declared  the  Minister.  "  We  have  this  day 
sent  out  a  statement  that  we  are  neutral  and  asking 
for  our  neutrality  to  be  respected." 

"Why  should  they  protect  you,  if  you  do  not 
protect  yourself?"  I  asked. 

"  We  have  the  promise  of  America.  She  will  be 
our  friend  whatever  happens,"  the  Minister  in- 
sisted. 

From  that  position  he  would  not  budge. 

Three  days  later,  the  Russian  ships,  the  Variag 
and  the  Korietz,  lay  sunken  wrecks  in  Chemulpo 
Harbour,  broken  by  the  guns  of  the  Japanese  fleet, 
and  the  Japanese  soldiers  had  seized  the  Korean 
Emperor's  palace.  M.  Hayashi,  the  Japanese  Min- 
ister, was  dictating  the  terms  he  must  accept. 
Korea's  independence  was  over,  in  deed  if  not  in 
name,  and  Japan  was  at  last  about  to  realize  her 
centuries'  old  ambition  to  have  Korea  for  her  own. 


THE  NEW  ERA 

JAPAN  was  now  in  a  position  to  enforce  obedi- 
ence. Russia  could  no  longer  interfere ;  Eng- 
land would  not.  A  new  treaty  between  Japan 
and  Korea,  drawn  up  in  advance,  was  signed — the 
Emperor  being  ordered  to  assent  without  hesita- 
tion or  alteration — and  Japan  began  her  work  as 
the  open  protector  of  Korea.  The  Korean  Gov- 
ernment was  to  place  full  confidence  in  Japan  and 
follow  her  lead ;  while  Japan  pledged  herself  "  in  a 
spirit  of  firm  friendship,  to  secure  the  safety  and 
repose  "  of  the  Imperial  Korean  House,  and  defi- 
nitely guaranteed  the  independence  and  territorial 
integrity  of  the  country.  Japan  was  to  be  given 
every  facility  for  military  operations  during  the 
war. 

The  Japanese  at  first  behaved  with  great  mod- 
eration. Officials  who  had  been  hostile  to  them 
were  not  only  left  unpunished,  but  were,  some  of 
them,  employed  in  the  Japanese  service.  The 
troops  marching  northwards  maintained  rigid  dis- 
cipline and  treated  the  people  well.  Food  that  was 
taken  was  purchased  at  fair  prices,  and  the  thou- 

79 


80  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

sands  of  labourers  who  were  pressed  into  the  army 
service  as  carriers  were  rewarded  with  a  liberality 
and  promptitude  that  left  them  surprised.  Mr. 
Hayashi  did  everything  that  he  could  to  reassure 
the  Korean  Emperor,  and  repeatedly  told  him  that 
Japan  desired  nothing  but  the  good  of  Korea  and 
the  strengthening  of  the  Korean  nation.  The  Mar- 
quis Ito  was  soon  afterwards  sent  on  a  special  mis- 
sion from  the  Mikado,  and  he  repeated  and  empha- 
sized the  declarations  of  friendship  and  help. 

All  this  was  not  without  effect  upon  the  Korean 
mind.  The  people  of  the  north  had  learnt  to  dis- 
like the  Russians,  because  of  their  lack  of  discipline 
and  want  of  restraint.  They  had  been  alienated  in 
particular  by  occasional  interference  with  Korean 
women  by  the  Russian  soldiers.  I  travelled  largely 
throughout  the  northern  regions  in  the  early  days 
of  the  war,  and  everywhere  I  heard  from  the  people 
during  the  first  few  weeks  nothing  but  expressions 
of  friendship  to  the  Japanese.  The  coolies  and 
farmers  were  friendly  because  they  hoped  that 
Japan  would  modify  the  oppression  of  the  native 
magistrates.  A  section  of  better-class  people,  es- 
pecially those  who  had  received  some  foreign  train- 
ing, were  sympathetic,  because  they  credited  Ja- 
pan's promises  and  had  been  convinced  by  old  ex- 
perience that  no  far-reaching  reforms  could  come 
to  their  land  without  foreign  aid. 

As  victory  followed  victory,  however,  the  atti- 
tude of  the  Japanese  grew  less  kindly.  A  large 
number  of  petty  tradesmen  followed  the  army,  and 


THE  NEW  ERA  81 

these  showed  none  of  the  restraint  of  the  military. 
They  travelled  about,  sword  in  hand,  taking  what 
they  wished  and  doing  as  they  pleased.  Then  the 
army  cut  down  the  rate  of  pay  for  coolies,  and, 
from  being  overpaid,  the  native  labourers  were 
forced  to  toil  for  half  their  ordinary  earnings.  The 
military,  too,  gradually  began  to  acquire  a  more 
domineering  air. 

In  Seoul  itself  a  definite  line  of  policy  was  being 
pursued.  The  Korean  Government  had  employed 
a  number  of  foreign  advisers.  These  were  steadily 
eliminated;  some  of  them  were  paid  up  for  the  full 
time  of  their  engagements  and  sent  off,  and  others 
were  told  that  their  agreements  would  not  be 
renewed.  Numerous  Japanese  advisers  were 
brought  in,  and,  step  by  step,  the  administration 
was  Japanized.  This  process  was  hastened  by  a 
supplementary  agreement  concluded  in  August, 
when  the  Korean  Emperor  practically  handed  the 
control  of  administrative  functions  over  to  the 
Japanese.  He  agreed  to  engage  a  Japanese  finan- 
cial adviser,  to  reform  the  currency,  to  reduce  his 
army,  to  adopt  Japanese  military  and  educational 
methods,  and  eventually  to  trust  the  foreign  rela- 
tions to  Japan.  One  of  the  first  results  of  this  new 
agreement  was  that  Mr.  (now  Baron)  Megata  was 
given  control  of  the  Korean  finances.  He  quickly 
brought  extensive  and,  on  the  whole,  admirable 
changes  into  the  currency.  Under  the  old  methods, 
Korean  money  was  among  the  worst  in  the  world. 
The  famous  gibe  of  a  British  Consul  in  an  official 


82  KOBEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

report,  that  the  Korean  coins  might  be  divided  into 
good,  good  counterfeits,  bad  counterfeits,  and 
counterfeits  so  bad  that  they  can  only  be  passed  off 
in  the  dark,  was  by  no  means  an  effort  of  imagina- 
tion. In  the  days  before  the  war  it  was  necessary, 
when  one  received  any  sum  of  money,  to  employ  an 
expert  to  count  over  the  coins,  and  put  aside  the 
worst  counterfeits.  The  old  nickels  were  so  cum- 
bersome that  a  very  few  pounds'  worth  of  them 
formed  a  heavy  load  for  a  pony.  Mr.  Megata 
changed  all  this,  and  put  the  currency  on  a  sound 
basis,  naturally  not  without  some  temporary  trou- 
ble, but  certainly  with  permanent  benefit  to  the 
country. 

The  next  great  step  in  the  Japanese  advance  was 
the  acquirement  of  the  entire  Korean  postal  and 
telegraph  system.  This  was  taken  over,  despite 
Korean  protests.  More  and  more  Japanese  gen- 
darmes were  brought  in  and  established  themselves 
everywhere.  They  started  to  control  all  political 
activity.  Men  who  protested  against  Japanese  ac- 
tion were  arrested  and  imprisoned,  or  driven 
abroad.  A  notorious  pro-Japanese  society,  the  II 
Chin  Hoi,  was  fostered  by  every  possible  means, 
members  receiving  for  a  time  direct  payments 
through  Japanese  sources.  The  payment  at  one 
period  was  50  sen  (Is.)  a  day.  Notices  were 
posted  in  Seoul  that  no  one  could  organize  a  po- 
litical society  unless  the  Japanese  headquarters 
consented,  and  no  one  could  hold  a  meeting  for  dis- 
cussing  affairs   without   permission,    and    without 


THE  NEW  EKA  83 

having  it  guarded  by  Japanese'poli'ce.  Allletters 
and  circulars  issued  by  political  societies  were  first 
to  be  submitted  to  the  headquarters.  Those  who 
offended  made  themselves  punishable  by  martial 
law. 

Gradually  the  hand  of  Japan  became  heavier  and 
heavier.  Little  aggravating  changes  were  made. 
The  Japanese  military  authorities  decreed  that 
Japanese  time  should  be  used  for  all  public  work, 
and  they  changed  the  names  of  the  towns  from 
Korean  to  Japanese.  Martial  law  was  now  en- 
forced with  the  utmost  rigidity.  Scores  of  thou- 
sands of  Japanese  coolies  poured  into  the  country, 
and  spread  abroad,  acting  in  a  most  oppressive 
way.  These  coolies,  who  had  been  kept  strictly 
under  discipline  in  their  own  land,  here  found  them- 
selves masters  of  a  weaker  people.  The  Korean 
magistrates  could  not  punish  them,  and  the  few 
Japanese  residents,  scattered  in  the  provinces, 
would  not.  The  coolies  were  poor,  uneducated, 
strong,  and  with  the  inherited  brutal  traditions  of 
generations  of  their  ancestors  who  had  looked  upon 
force  and  strength  as  supreme  right.  They  went 
through  the  country  like  a  plague.  If  they  wanted 
a  thing  they  took  it.  If  they  fancied  a  house,  they 
turned  the  resident  out. 

They  beat,  they  outraged,  they  murdered  in  a 
way  and  on  a  scale  of  which  it  is  difficult  for  any 
white  man  to  speak  with  moderation.  Koreans 
were  flogged  to  death  for  offences  that  did  not  de- 
serve a  sixpenny  fine.     They  were  shot  for  mere 


84  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

awkwardness.  Men  were  dispossessed  of  their 
homes  by  every  form  of  guile  and  trickery.  It  was 
my  lot  to  hear  from  Koreans  themselves  and  from 
white  men  living  in  the  districts,  hundreds  upon 
hundreds  of  incidents  of  this  time,  all  to  the  same 
effect.  The  outrages  were  allowed  to  pass  unpun- 
ished and  unheeded.  The  Korean  who  approached 
the  office  of  a  Japanese  resident  to  complain  was 
thrown  out,  as  a  rule,  by  the  underlings. 

One  act  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese  surprised 
most  of  those  who  knew  them  best.  In  Japan  it- 
self opium-smoking  is  prohibited  under  the  heavi- 
est penalties,  and  elaborate  precautions  are  taken 
to  shut  opium  in  any  of  its  forms  out  of  the  coun- 
try. Strict  anti-opium  laws  were  also  enforced  in 
Korea  under  the  old  administration.  The  Japa- 
nese, however,  now  permitted  numbers  of  their 
people  to  travel  through  the  interior  of  Korea  sell- 
ing morphia  to  the  natives.  In  the  northwest  in 
particular  this  caused  quite  a  wave  of  morphia- 
mania. 

The  Japanese  had  evidently  set  themselves  to 
acquire  possession  of  as  much  Korean  land  as  pos- 
sible. The  military  authorities  staked  out  large 
portions  of  the  finest  sites  in  the  country,  the  river- 
lands  near  Seoul,  the  lands  around  Pyeng-yang, 
great  districts  to  the  north,  and  fine  strips  all  along 
the  railway.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  acres  were 
thus  acquired.  A  nominal  sum  was  paid  as  com- 
pensation to  the  Korean  Government — a  sum  that 
did  not  amount  to  one-twentieth  part  of  the  real 


THE  NEW  EEA  85 

value  of  the  land.  The  people  who  were  turned 
out  received,  in  many  cases,  nothing  at  all,  and,  in 
others,  one-tenth  to  one-twentieth  of  the  fair  value. 
The  land  was  seized  by  the  military,  nominally  for 
purposes  of  war.  Within  a  few  months  large  parts 
of  it  were  being  resold  to  Japanese  builders  and 
shopkeepers,  and  Japanese  settlements  were  grow- 
ing up  on  them.  This  theft  of  land  beggared  thou- 
sands of  formerly  prosperous  people. 

The  Japanese  Minister  pushed  forward,  in  the 
early  days  of  the  war,  a  scheme  of  land  appropria- 
tion that  would  have  handed  two-thirds  of  Korea 
over  at  a  blow  to  a  Japanese  concessionaire,  a  Mr. 
Nagamori,  had  it  gone  through.  Under  this  pro- 
posal all  the  waste  lands  of  Korea,  which  included 
all  unworked  mineral  lands,  were  to  be  given  to 
Mr.  Nagamori  nominally  for  fifty  years,  but  really 
on  a  perpetual  lease,  without  any  payment  or  com- 
pensation, and  with  freedom  from  taxation  for 
some  time.  Mr.  Nagamori  was  simply  a  cloak  for 
the  Japanese  Government  in  this  matter.  The 
comprehensive  nature  of  the  request  stirred  even 
the  foreign  representatives  in  Seoul  to  action.  For 
the  moment  the  Japanese  had  to  abandon  the 
scheme.  The  same  scheme  under  another  name 
was  carried  out  later  when  the  Japanese  obtained 
fuller  control. 

It  may  be  asked  why  the  Korean  people  did  not 
make  vigorous  protests  against  the  appropriation 
of  their  land.  They  did  all  they  could,  as  can  be 
seen  by  the  "  Five  Rivers  "  case.     One  part  of  the 


86  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FREEDOM 

Japanese  policy  was  to  force  loans  upon  the  Korean 
Government.  On  one  occasion  it  was  proposed 
that  Japan  should  lend  Korea  2,000,000  yen.  The 
residents  in  a  prosperous  district  near  Seoul,  the 
"Five  Rivers,"  informed  the  Emperor  that  if  he 
wanted  money,  they  would  raise  it  and  so  save 
them  the  necessity  of  borrowing  from  foreigners. 
Soon  afterwards  these  people  were  all  served  with 
notice  to  quit,  as  their  land  was  wanted  by  the 
Japanese  military  authorities.  The  district  con- 
tained, it  was  said,  about  15,000  houses.  The  in- 
habitants protested  and  a  large  number  of  them 
went  to  Seoul,  demanding  to  see  the  Minister  for 
Home  Affairs.  They  were  met  by  a  Japanese  po- 
liceman, who  was  soon  reenforced  by  about  twenty 
others,  who  refused  to  allow  them  to  pass.  A 
free  fight  followed.  Many  of  the  Koreans  were 
wounded,  some  of  them  severely,  and  finally,  in 
spite  of  stubborn  resistance,  they  were  driven  back. 
Later,  a  mixed  force  of  Japanese  police  and  soldiers 
went  down  to  their  district  and  drove  them  from 
their  villages. 

The  Japanese  brought  over  among  their  many 
advisers,  one  foreigner — an  American,  Mr.  Stevens 
— who  had  for  some  time  served  in  the  Japanese 
Foreign  Office.  Mr.  Stevens  was  nominally  in  the 
employment  of  the  Korean  Government,  but  really 
he  was  a  more  thoroughgoing  servant  of  Japan 
than  many  Japanese  themselves.  Two  foreigners, 
whose  positions  seemed  fairly  established,  were 
greatly  in  the  way  of  the  new  rulers.     One  was  Dr. 


THE  NEW  ERA  87 

Allen,  the  American  Minister  at  Seoul.  Dr.  Allen 
had  shown  himself  to  be  an  independent  and  im- 
partial representative  of  his  country.  He  was 
friendly  to  the  Japanese,  but  did  not  think  it  neces- 
sary to  shut  his  eyes  to  the  darker  sides  of  their 
administration.  This  led  to  his  downfall.  He 
took  opportunity,  on  one  or  two  occasions,  to  tell 
his  Government  some  unpalatable  truths.  The 
Japanese  came  to  know  it.  They  suggested  indi- 
rectly that  he  was  not  persona  grata  to  them.  He 
was  summarily  and  somewhat  discourteously  re- 
called, his  successor,  Mr.  E.  V.  Morgan,  arriving  at 
Seoul  with  authorization  to  replace  him.  The  next 
victim  was  Mr.  McLeavy  Brown,  the  Chief  Com- 
missioner of  Customs.  Mr.  Brown  had  done  his 
utmost  to  work  with  the  Japanese,  but  there  were 
conflicts  of  authority  between  him  and  Mr.  Megata. 
Negotiations  were  entered  into  with  the  British 
authorities,  and  Mr.  Brown  had  to  go.  He  was  too 
loyal  and  self-sacrificing  to  dispute  the  ruling,  and 
submitted  in  silence. 

As  the  summer  of  1905  drew  to  a  close  it  became 
more  and  more  clear  that  the  Japanese  Govern- 
ment, despite  its  many  promises  to  the  contrary, 
intended  completely  to  destroy  the  independence 
of  Korea.  Even  the  Court  officials  were  at  last 
seriously  alarmed,  and  set  about  devising  means  to 
protect  themselves.  The  Emperor  had  thought 
that  because  Korean  independence  was  provided 
for  in  various  treaties  with  Great  Powers,  therefore 
he  was  safe.     He  had  yet  to  learn  that  treaty  rights, 


88  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

unbacked  by  power,  are  worth  little  more  than  the 
paper  upon  which  they  are  written. 

The  Emperor  trusted  in  particular  to  the  clause 
in  the  Treaty  with  the  United  States  in  1882  that  if 
other  Powers  dealt  unjustly  or  oppressively  with 
Korea,  America  would  exert  her  good  offices  to 
bring  about  an  amicable  arrangement.  In  vain  did 
the  American  Minister,  his  old  friend  Dr.  Allen — 
who  had  not  yet  gone — try  to  disillusion  him. 

Early  in  November  the  Marquis  Ito  arrived  in 
Seoul  on  another  visit,  this  time  as  Special  Envoy 
from  the  Emperor  of  Japan.  He  brought  with  him 
a  letter  from  the  Mikado,  saying  that  he  hoped  the 
Korean  Emperor  would  follow  the  directions  of  the 
Marquis,  and  come  to  an  agreement  with  him,  for 
it  was  essential  for  the  maintenance  of  peace  in  the 
Far  East  that  he  should  do  so. 

Marquis  Ito  was  received  in  formal  audience  on 
November  15th,  and  there  presented  a  series  of  de- 
mands, drawn  up  in  treaty  form.  These  were,  in 
the  main,  that  the  foreign  relations  of  Korea  should 
be  placed  entirely  in  the  hands  of  Japan,  the  Korean 
diplomatic  service  brought  to  an  end,  and  the  Min- 
isters recalled  from  foreign  Courts.  The  Japanese 
Minister  to  Korea  was  to  became  supreme  admin- 
istrator of  the  country  under  the  Emperor,  and  the 
Japanese  Consuls  in  the  different  districts  were  to 
be  made  Residents,  with  the  powers  of  supreme 
local  governors.  In  other  words,  Korea  was  en- 
tirely to  surrender  her  independence  as  a  State,  and 
was  to  hand  over  control  of  her  internal  adminis- 


THE  NEW  EEA  89 

tration  to  the  Japanese.  The  Emperor  met  the  re- 
quest with  a  blank  refusal.  The  conversation  be- 
tween the  two,  as  reported  at  the  time,  was  as 
follows. 

The  Emperor  said — 

"  Although  I  have  seen  in  the  newspapers  various 
rumours  that  Japan  proposed  to  assume  a  protectorate 
over  Korea,  I  did  not  believe  them,  as  I  placed  faith  in 
Japan's  adherence  to  the  promise  to  maintain  the  in- 
dependence of  Korea  which  was  made  by  the  Em- 
peror of  Japan  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  and  embodied 
in  a  treaty  between  Korea  and  Japan.  When  I  heard 
you  were  coming  to  my  country  I  was  glad,  as  I  believed 
your  mission  was  to  increase  the  friendship  between  our 
countries,  and  your  demands  have  therefore  taken  me 
entirely  by  surprise." 

To  which  Marquis  Ito  rejoined — 

"  These  demands  are  not  my  own ;  I  am  only  acting  in 
accordance  with  a  mandate  from  my  Government,  and 
if  Your  Majesty  will  agree  to  the  demands  which  I  have 
presented  it  will  be  to  the  benefit  of  both  nations  and 
peace  in  the  East  will  be  assured  for  ever.  Please,  there- 
fore, consent  quickly." 

The  Emperor  replied — 

"  From  time  immemorial  it  has  been  the  custom  of  the 
rulers  of  Korea,  when  confronted  with  questions  so  mo- 
mentous as  this,  to  come  to  no  decision  until  all  the 
Ministers,  high  and  low,  who  hold  or  have  held  office, 
have  been  consulted,  and  the  opinion  of  the  scholars  and 
the  common  people  have  been  obtained,  so  that  I  cannot 
now  settle  this  matter  myself." 


90  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

Said  Marquis  Ito  again — 

"  Protests  from  the  people  can  easily  be  disposed  of, 
and  for  the  sake  of  the  friendship  between  the  two  coun- 
tries Your  Majesty  should  come  to  a  decision  at  once." 

To  this  the  Emperor  replied — 

"  Assent  to  your  proposal  would  mean  the  ruin  of  my 
country,  and  I  will  therefore  sooner  die  than  agree  to  it." 

The  conference  lasted  nearly  five  hours,  and  then 
the  Marquis  had  to  leave,  having  accomplished 
nothing.  He  at  once  tackled  the  members  of  the 
Cabinet,  individually  and  collectively.  They  were 
all  summoned  to  the  Japanese  Legation  on  the 
following  day,  and  a  furious  debate  began,  starting 
at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  lasting  till 
late  at  night.  The  Ministers  had  sworn  to  one  an- 
other beforehand  that  they  would  not  yield.  In 
spite  of  threats,  cajoleries,  and  proffered  bribes, 
they  remained  steadfast.  The  arguments  used  by 
Marquis  Ito  and  Mr.  Hayashi,  apart  from  personal 
ones,  were  twofold.  The  first  was  that  it  was 
essential  for  the  peace  of  the  Far  East  that  Japan 
and  Korea  should  be  united.  The  second  appealed 
to  racial  ambition.  The  Japanese  painted  to  the 
Koreans  a  picture  of  a  great  united  East,  with  the 
Mongol  nations  all  standing  firm  and  as  one  against 
the  white  man,  who  would  reduce  them  to  submis- 
sion if  he  could.1     The  Japanese  were  determined 

*As  it  may  be  questioned  whether  the  Japanese  would  use 
such  arguments,  I  may  say  that  the  account  of  the  interview 


THE  NEW  EEA  91 

to  give  the  Cabinet  no  time  to  regather  its  strength. 
On  the  17th  of  November,  another  conference  be- 
gan at  two  in  the  afternoon  at  the  Legation,  but 
equally  without  result.  Mr.  Hayashi  then  advised 
the  Ministers  to  go  to  the  palace  and  open  a  Cabi- 
net Meeting  in  the  presence  of  the  Emperor.  This 
was  done,  the  Japanese  joining  in. 

All  this  time  the  Japanese  Army  had  been  mak- 
ing a  great  display  of  military  force  around  the 
palace.  All  the  Japanese  troops  in  the  district  had 
been  for  days  parading  the  streets  and  open  places 
fronting  the  Imperial  residence.  The  field-guns 
were  out,  and  the  men  were  fully  armed.  They 
marched,  countermarched,  stormed,  made  feint  at- 
tacks, occupied  the  gates,  put  their  guns  in  posi- 
tion, and  did  everything,  short  of  actual  violence, 
that  they  could  to  demonstrate  to  the  Koreans  that 
they  were  able  to  enforce  their  demands.  To  the 
Cabinet  Ministers  themselves*  and  to  the  Emperor, 
all  this  display  had  a  sinister  and  terrible  meaning. 
They  could  not  forget  the  night  in  1895,  when  the 
Japanese  soldiers  had  paraded  around  another  pal- 
ace, and  when  their  picked  bullies  had  forced  their 
way  inside  and  murdered  the  Queen.  Japan  had 
done  this  before;  why  should  she  not  do  it  again? 
Not  one  of  those  now  resisting  the  will  of  Dai 
Nippon  but  saw  the  sword  in  front  of  his  eyes,  and 

was  given  to  me  by  one  of  the  participating  Korean  Ministers, 
and  that  he  dealt  at  great  length  with  the  pro-Asian  policy 
suggested  there.  I  asked  him  why  he  had  not  listened  and 
accepted.  He  replied  that  he  knew  what  such  arguments 
meant.  The  unity  of  Asia  when  spoken  of  by  Japanese  meant 
the  supreme  autocracy  of  their  country. 


92  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

heard  in  imagination  a  hundred  times  during  the 
day  the  rattle  of  the  Japanese  bullets. 

That  evening  Japanese  soldiers,  with  fixed  bay- 
onets, entered  the  courtyard  of  the  palace  and 
stood  near  the  apartment  of  the  Emperor.  Mar- 
quis Ito  now  arrived,  accompanied  by  General 
Hasegawa,  Commander  of  the  Japanese  Army  in 
Korea,  and  a  fresh  attack  was  started  on  the  Cabi- 
net Ministers.  The  Marquis  demanded  an  audi- 
ence of  the  Emperor.  The  Emperor  refused  to 
grant  it,  saying  that  his  throat  was  very  bad,  and 
he  was  in  great  pain.  The  Marquis  then  made  his 
way  into  the  Emperor's  presence,  and  personally 
requested  an  audience.  The  Emperor  still  refused. 
"  Please  go  away  and  discuss  the  matter  with  the 
Cabinet  Ministers,"  he  said. 

Thereupon  Marquis  Ito  went  outside  to  the  Min- 
isters. "  Your  Emperor  has  commanded  you  to 
confer  with  me  and  settle  this  matter/'  he  declared. 
A  fresh  conference  was  opened.  The  presence  of 
the  soldiers,  the  gleaming  of  the  bayonets  outside, 
the  harsh  words  of  command  that  could  be  heard 
through  the  windows  of  the  palace  buildings,  were 
not  without  their  effect.  The  Ministers  had  fought 
for  days  and  they  had  fought  alone.  No  single  for- 
eign representative  had  offered  them  help  or  coun- 
sel. They  saw  submission  or  destruction  before 
them.  "What  is  the  use  of  our  resisting?"  said 
one.  "  The  Japanese  always  get  their  way  in  the 
end."  Signs  of  yielding  began  to  appear.  The 
acting  Prime  Minister,  Han  Kew-sul,  jumped  to 


THE  NEW  EEA  93 

his  feet  and  said  he  would  go  and  tell  the  Emperor 
of  the  talk  of  traitors.  Han  Kew-sul  was  allowed 
to  leave  the  room  and  then  was  gripped  by  the  Jap- 
anese Secretary  of  the  Legation,  thrown  into  a 
side-room  and  threatened  with  death.  Even  Mar- 
quis Ito  went  out  to  him  to  persuade  him.  "  Would 
you  not  yield,"  the  Marquis  said,  "  if  your  Emperor 
commanded  you?"  "No,"  said  Han  Kew-sul, 
"  not  even  then!  " 

This  was  enough.  The  Marquis  at  once  went  to 
the  Emperor.  "  Han  Kew-sul  is  a  traitor,"  he 
said.  "  He  defies  you,  and  declares  that  he  will  not 
obey  your  commands." 

Meanwhile  the  remaining  Ministers  waited  in 
the  Cabinet  Chamber.  Where  was  their  leader, 
the  man  who  had  urged  them  all  to  resist  to  death? 
Minute  after  minute  passed,  and  still  he  did  not  re- 
turn. Then  a  whisper  went  round  that  the  Japa- 
nese had  killed  him.  The  harsh  voices  of  the 
Japanese  grew  still  more  strident.  Courtesy  and 
restraint  were  thrown  off.  "  Agree  with  us  and  be 
rich,  or  oppose  us  and  perish."  Pak  Che-sun,  the 
Foreign  Minister,  one  of  the  best  and  most  capable 
of  Korean  statesmen,  was  the  last  to  yield.  But 
even  he  finally  gave  way.  In  the  early  hours  of 
the  morning  commands  were  issued  that  the  seal 
of  State  should  be  brought  from  the  Foreign  Min- 
ister's apartment,  and  a  treaty  should  be  signed. 
Here  another  difficulty  arose.  The  custodian  of 
the  seal  had  received  orders  in  advance  that,  even 
if  his  master  commanded,  the  seal  was  not  to  be 


94  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

surrendered  for  any  such  purpose.  When  tele- 
phonic orders  were  sent  to  him,  he  refused  to  bring 
the  seal  along,  and  special  messengers  had  to  be 
despatched  to  take  it  from  him  by  force.  The  Em- 
peror himself  asserts  to  this  day  that  he  did  not 
consent. 

The  news  of  the  signing  of  the  treaty  was  re- 
ceived by  the  people  with  horror  and  indignation. 
Han  Kew-sul,  once  he  escaped  from  custody, 
turned  on  his  fellow-Ministers  as  one  distraught, 
and  bitterly  reproached  them.  "  Why  have  you 
broken  your  promises?  "  he  cried.  "Why  have 
you  broken  your  promises?  "  The  Ministers  found 
themselves  the  most  hated  and  despised  of  men. 
There  was  danger  lest  mobs  should  attack  them 
and  tear  them  to  pieces.  Pak  Che-sun  shrank  away 
under  the  storm  of  execration  that  greeted  him. 
On  December  6th,  as  he  was  entering  the  palace, 
one  of  the  soldiers  lifted  his  rifle  and  tried  to  shoot 
him.  Pak  Che-sun  turned  back,  and  hurried  to  the 
Japanese  Legation.  There  he  forced  his  way  into 
the  presence  of  Mr.  Hayashi,  and  drew  a  knife. 
"  It  is  you  who  have  brought  me  to  this,"  he  cried. 
"  You  have  made  me  a  traitor  to  my  country."  He 
attempted  to  cut  his  own  throat,  but  Mr.  Hayashi 
stopped  him,  and  he  was  sent  to  hospital  for 
treatment.  When  he  recovered  he  was  chosen  by 
the  Japanese  as  the  new  Prime  Minister,  Han  Kew- 
sul  being  exiled  and  disgraced.  Pak  did  not,  how- 
ever, hold  office  for  very  long,  being  somewhat  too 
independent  to  suit  his  new  masters. 


THE  NEW  ERA  95 

As  the  news  spread  through  the  country,  the 
people  of  various  districts  assembled,  particularly 
in  the  north,  and  started  to  march  southwards  to 
die  in  front  of  the  palace  as  a  protest.  Thanks  to 
the  influence  of  the  missionaries,  many  of  them 
were  stopped.  "  It  is  of  no  use  your  dying  in  that 
way,"  the  missionaries  told  them.  "  You  had  bet- 
ter live  and  make  your  country  better  able  to  hold 
its  own."  A  number  of  leading  officials,  including 
all  the  surviving  past  Prime  Ministers,  and  over  a 
hundred  men  who  had  previously  held  high  office 
under  the  Crown,  went  to  the  palace,  and  de- 
manded that  the  Emperor  should  openly  repudiate 
the  treaty,  and  execute  those  Ministers  who  had 
acquiesced  in  it.  The  Emperor  tried  to  temporize 
with  them,  for  he  was  afraid  that,  if  he  took  too 
openly  hostile  an  attitude,  the  Japanese  would  pun- 
ish him.  The  memorialists  sat  down  in  the  palace 
buildings,  refusing  to  move,  and  demanding  an  an- 
swer. Some  of  their  leaders  were  arrested  by  the 
Japanese  gendarmes,  only  to  have  others,  still 
greater  men,  take  their  place.  The  storekeepers 
of  the  city  put  up  their  shutters  to  mark  their 
mourning. 

At  last  a  message  came  from  the  Emperor: 
"  Although  affairs  now  appear  to  you  to  be  danger- 
ous, there  may  presently  result  some  benefit  to  the 
nation."  The  gendarmes  descended  on  the  peti- 
tioners and  threatened  them  with  general  arrest  if 
they  remained  around  the  palace  any  longer.  They 
moved  on  to  a  shop  where  they  tried  to  hold  a 


96  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

meeting,  but  they  were  turned  out  of  it  by  the 
police.  Min  Yong-whan,  their  leader,  a  former 
Minister  for  War  and  Special  Korean  Ambassador 
at  Queen  Victoria's  Diamond  Jubilee,  went  home. 
He  wrote  letters  to  his  friends  lamenting  the  state 
of  his  country,  and  then  committed  suicide.  Sev- 
eral other  statesmen  did  the  same,  while  many 
others  resigned.  One  native  paper,  the  Whang 
Sung  Shimbun,  dared  to  print  an  exact  statement  of 
what  had  taken  place.  Its  editor  was  promptly  ar- 
rested, and  thrown  into  prison,  and  the  paper  sup- 
pressed. Its  lamentation  voiced  the  feeling  of  the 
country : — 

"  When  it  was  recently  made  known  the  Marquis  Ito 
would  come  to  Korea  our  deluded  people  all  said,  with 
one  voice,  that  he  is  the  man  who  will  be  responsible  for 
the  maintenance  of  friendship  between  the  three  coun- 
tries of  the  Far  East  (Japan,  China,  and  Korea),  and, 
believing  that  his  visit  to  Korea  was  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  devising  good  plans  for  strictly  maintaining  the  prom- 
ised integrity  and  independence  of  Korea,  our  people, 
from  the  seacoast  to  the  capital,  united  in  extending  to 
him  a  hearty  welcome. 

"  But  oh !  How  difficult  is  it  to  anticipate  affairs  in 
this  world.  Without  warning,  a  proposal  containing  five 
clauses  was  laid  before  the  Emperor,  and  we  then  saw 
how  mistaken  we  were  about  the  object  of  Marquis  Ito's 
visit.  However,  the  Emperor  firmly  refused  to  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  these  proposals  and  Marquis  Ito  should 
then,  properly,  have  abandoned  his  attempt  and  returned 
to  his  own  country. 

"  But  the  Ministers  of  our  Government,  who  are  worse 
than  pigs  or  dogs,  coveting  honours  and  advantages  for 
themselves,  and  frightened  by  empty  threats,  were 
trembling  in  every  limb,   and  were  willing  to  become 


THE  NEW  ERA  97 

traitors  to  their  country  and  betray  to  Japan  the  integrity 
of  a  nation  which  has  stood  for  4,000  years,  the  founda- 
tion and  honour  of  a  dynasty  500  years  old,  and  the  rights 
and  freedom  of  twenty  million  people. 

"  We  do  not  wish  to  too  deeply  blame  Pak  Che-sun 
and  the  other  Ministers,  of  whom,  as  they  are  little  better 
than  brute  animals,  too  much  was  not  to  be  expected, 
but  what  can  be  said  of  the  Vice-Prime  Minister,  the 
chief  of  the  Cabinet,  whose  early  opposition  to  the  pro- 
posals of  Marquis  Ito  was  an  empty  form  devised  to 
enhance  his  reputation  with  the  people? 

"  Can  he  not  now  repudiate  the  agreement  or  can  he 
not  rid  the  world  of  his  presence?  How  can  he  again 
stand  before  the  Emperor  and  with  what  face  can  he 
ever  look  upon  any  one  of  his  twenty  million  compa- 
triots ? 

"Is  it  worth  while  for  any  of  us  to  live  any  longer? 
Our  people  have  become  the  slaves  of  others,  and  the 
spirit  of  a  nation  which  has  stood  for  4,000  years,  since 
the  days  of  Tun  Kun  and  Ke-ja  has  perished  in  a  single 
night.    Alas !  fellow-countrymen.    Alas !  " 

Suicides,  resignations,  and  lamentation  were  of 
no  avail.  The  Japanese  gendarmes  commanded 
the  streets,  and  the  Japanese  soldiers,  behind  them, 
were  ready  to  back  up  their  will  by  the  most  un- 
answerable of  arguments — force. 

Naturally,  as  might  have  been  expected  by  those 
who  know  something  of  the  character  of  the  Japa- 
nese, every  effort  was  made  to  show  that  there 
had  been  no  breach  of  treaty  promises.  Korea 
was  still  an  independent  country,  and  the  dignity  of 
its  Imperial  house  was  still  unimpaired.  Japan 
had  only  brought  a  little  friendly  pressure  on  a 
weaker  brother  to  assist  him  along  the  path  of 
progress.     Such    talk   pleased    the   Japanese,    and 


98  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

helped  them  to  reconcile  the  contrast  between  their 
solemn  promises  and  their  actions.  It  deceived  no 
one  else.  Soon  even,  the  Japanese  papers  made 
little  or  no  more  talk  of  Korean  independence. 
"  Korean  independence  is  a  farce,"  they  said.  And 
for  the  time  they  were  right. 

The  Emperor  did  his  utmost  to  induce  the 
Powers,  more  particularly  America,  to  intervene, 
but  in  vain.  The  story  of  his  efforts  is  an  interest- 
ing episode  in  the  records  of  diplomacy. 

Dr.  Allen,  the  American  Minister,  wrote  to  his 
Secretary  of  State,  on  April  14,  1904,  telling  of  the 
serious  concern  of  the  Korean  Emperor  over  recent 
happenings.  "  He  falls  back  in  his  extremity  upon 
his  old  friendship  with  America.  .  .  .  The  Em- 
peror confidently  expects  that  America  will  do 
something  for  him  at  the  close  of  this  war,  or  when 
opportunity  offers,  to  retain  for  him  as  much  of  his 
independence  as  is  possible.  He  is  inclined  to  give 
a  very  free  and  favourable  translation  to  Article  I 
of  our  treaty  of  Jenchuan  of  1882 "  (A  e.,  the 
pledge,  "  If  other  Powers  deal  unjustly  or  oppress- 
ively with  either  Government,  the  other  will  exert 
their  good  offices,  on  being  informed  of  the  case,  to 
bring  about  an  amicable  arrangement,  thus  show- 
ing their  friendly  feeling  "). 

In  April,  1905,  Dr.  Allen  transmitted  to  Wash- 
ington copies  of  protests  by  an  American  mission- 
ary and  certain  Koreans  against  the  conduct  of 
Japanese  subjects  in  Korea.  Dr.  Allen  was  shortly 
afterwards  replaced  by  Mr.  Edwin  V.  Morgan. 


THE  NEW  ERA  99 

In  October,  1905,  the  Emperor,  determined  to 
appeal  directly  to  America,  enlisted  the  services  of 
Professor  Homer  B.  Hulbert,  editor  of  the  Korea 
Review,  who  had  been  employed  continuously  in 
educational  work  in  Seoul  since  1886,  and  des- 
patched him  to  Washington,  with  a  letter  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Hulbert  in- 
formed his  Minister  at  Seoul  of  his  mission  and 
started  off.  The  Japanese  learned  of  his  departure 
(Mr.  Hulbert  suggests  that  the  American  Minister 
may  have  informed  them)  and  used  every  effort  to 
force  a  decision  before  the  letter  could  be  delivered. 

On  the  same  day  that  Mr.  Hulbert  reached 
Washington  the  Korean  Cabinet  were  forced  to 
sign  the  document  giving  Japan  a  protectorate  over 
their  land.  Formal  notification  had  not  yet,  how- 
ever, arrived  at  Washington,  so  it  was  resolved  not 
to  receive  Mr.  Hulbert  until  this  had  come. 


"  I  supposed  that  the  President  would  be  not  only  will- 
ing but  eager  to  see  the  letter,"  said  Mr.  Hulbert  in  a 
statement  presented  later  to  the  Senate ;  "  but  instead  of 
that  I  received  the  astounding  answer  that  the  President 
would  not  receive  it.  I  cast  about  in  my  own  mind  for 
a  possible  reason,  but  could  imagine  none.  I  went  to  the 
State  Department  with  it,  but  was  told  that  they  were 
too  busy  to  see  me.  Remember  that  at  that  very  moment 
Korea  was  in  her  death  throes ;  that  she  was  in  full  treaty 
relations  with  us;  that  there  was  a  Korean  legation  in 
Washington  and  an  American  legation  in  Seoul.  I  de- 
termined that  there  was  something  here  that  was  more 
than  mere  carelessness.  There  was  premeditation  in  the 
refusal.  There  was  no  other  answer.  They  said  I  might 
come  the  following  day.    I  did  so  and  was  told  that  they 


100  KOKEA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

were  still  too  busy,  but  might  come  the  next  day.  I 
hurried  over  to  the  White  House  and  asked  to  be  ad- 
mitted. A  secretary  came  out  and  without  any  prelim- 
inary whatever  told  me  in  the  lobby  that  they  knew  the 
contents  of  the  letter,  but  that  the  State  Department  was 
the  only  place  to  go.  I  had  to  wait  till  the  next  day.  But 
on  that  same  day,  the  day  before  I  was  admitted,  the 
administration,  without  a  word  to  the  Emperor  or  Govern- 
ment of  Korea  or  to  the  Korean  Legation,  and  knowing 
well' the  contents  of  the  undelivered  letter,  accepted  Ja- 
pan's unsupported  statement  that  it  was  all  satisfactory 
to  the  Korean  Government  and  people,  cabled  our  lega- 
tion to  remove  from  Korea,  cut  off  all  communication 
with  the  Korean  Government,  and  then  admitted  me  with 
the  letter." 

On  November  25th  Mr.  Hulbert  received  a  mes- 
sage from  Mr.  Root  that 

"  The  letter  from  the  Emperor  of  Korea  which  you  in- 
trusted to  me  has  been  placed  in  the  President's  hands 
and  read  by  him. 

"  In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  Emperor  desires  that  the 
sending  of  the  letter  should  remain  secret,  and  of  the 
fact  that  since  intrusting  it  to  you  the  Emperor  has  made 
a  new  agreement  with  Japan  disposing  of  the  whole 
question  to  which  the  letter  relates,  it  seems  quite  im- 
practicable that  any  action  should  be  based  upon  it." 

On  the  following  day  Mr.  Hulbert  received  a 
cablegram  from  the  Emperor,  which  had  been  des- 
patched from  Chefoo,  in  order  not  to  pass  over  the 
Japanese  wires: — 

"  I  declare  that  the  so-called  treaty  of  protectorate  re- 
cently concluded  between  Korea  and  Japan  was  extorted 
at  the  point  of  the  sword  and  under  duress  and  there- 


THE  NEW  ERA  lOl 

fore  is  null  and  void.    I  never  consented  to  it  and  never 
will.    Transmit  to  American  Government. 

"  The  Emperor  of  Korea." 

Poor  Emperor!  Innocent  simpleton  to  place 
such  trust  in  a  written  bond.  Mr.  Root  had  al- 
ready telegraphed  to  the  American  Minister  at 
Seoul  to  withdraw  from  Korea  and  to  return  to  the 
United  States. 

No  one  supposes  that  the  Washington  authori- 
ties were  deceived  by  the  statement  of  the  Japanese 
authorities  or  that  they  believed  for  one  moment 
that  the  treaty  was  secured  in  any  other  way  than 
by  force.  To  imagine  so  would  be  an  insult  to 
their  intelligence.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
Japan  was  at  this  time  at  the  very  height  of  her 
prestige.  President  Roosevelt  was  convinced, 
mainly  through  the  influence  of  his  old  friend,  Mr. 
George  Kennan,  that  the  Koreans  were  unfit  for 
self-government.  He  was  anxious  to  please  Japan, 
and  therefore  he  deliberately  refused  to  interfere. 
His  own  explanation,  given  some  years  afterwards, 
was: 

"  To  be  sure,  by  treaty  it  was  solemnly  covenanted  that 
Korea  should  remain  independent.  But  Korea  itself  was 
helpless  to  enforce  the  treaty,  and  it  was  out  of  the  ques- 
tion to  suppose  that  any  other  nation,  with  no  interest  of 
its  own  at  stake,  would  do  for  the  Koreans  what  they 
were  utterly  unable  to  do  for  themselves." 

There  we  have  the  essence  of  international 
political  morality. 

The  letter  of  the  Emperor  of  Korea  to  the  Presi- 


102  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

dent  of  the  United  States  makes  interesting  read- 
ing: 

"  Ever  since  1883  the  United  States  and  Korea  have 
been  in  friendly  treaty  relations.  Korea  has  received 
many  proofs  of  the  good  will  and  the  sympathy  of  the 
American  Government  and  people.  The  American  Rep- 
resentatives have  always  shown  themselves  to  be  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  welfare  and  progress  of  Korea.  Many 
teachers  have  been  sent  from  America  who  have  done 
much  for  the  uplift  of  our  people. 

"  But  we  have  not  made  the  progress  that  we  ought. 
This  is  due  partly  to  the  political  machinations  of  foreign 
powers  and  partly  to  our  mistakes.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  Japan-Russia  war  the  Japanese  Government  asked 
us  to  enter  into  an  alliance  with  them,  granting  them  the 
use  of  our  territory,  harbours,  and  other  resources,  to 
facilitate  their  military  and  naval  operations.  Japan,  on 
her  part,  guaranteed  to  preserve  the  independence  of 
Korea  and  the  welfare  and  dignity  of  the  royal  house. 
We  complied  with  Japan's  request,  loyally  lived  up  to 
our  obligations,  and  did  everything  that  we  had  stipulated. 
By  so  doing  we  put  ourselves  in  such  a  position  that  if 
Russia  had  won,  she  could  have  seized  Korea  and  an- 
nexed her  to  Russian  territory  on  the  ground  that  we 
were  active  allies  of  Japan. 

"  It  is  now  apparent  that  Japan  proposes  to  abrogate 
their  part  of  this  treaty  and  declare  a  protectorate  over 
our  country  in  direct  contravention  of  her  sworn  prom- 
ise in  the  agreement  of  1904.  There  are  several  reasons 
why  this  should  not  be  done. 

"  In  the  first  place,  Japan  will  stultify  herself  by  such  a 
direct  breach  of  faith.  It  will  injure  her  prestige  as  a 
power  that  proposes  to  work  according  to  enlightened 
laws. 

"  In  the  second  place,  the  actions  of  Japan  in  Korea 
during  the  past  two  years  give  no  promise  that  our  people 
will  be  handled  in  an  enlightened  manner.  No  adequate 
means  have  been  provided  whereby  redress  could  be  se- 
cured for  wrongs  perpetrated  upon  our  people.     The 


THE  NEW  EEA  103 

finances  of  the  country  have  been  gravely  mishandled  by 
Japan.  Nothing  has  been  done  towards  advancing  the 
cause  of  education  or  justice.  Every  move  on  Japan's 
part  has  been  manifestly  selfish. 

"  The  destruction  of  Korea's  independence  will  work 
her  a  great  injury,  because  it  will  intensify  the  contempt 
with  which  the  Japanese  people  treat  the  Koreans  and 
will  make  their  acts  all  the  more  oppressive. 

"We  acknowledge  that  many  reforms  are  needed  in 
Korea.  We  are  glad  to  have  the  help  of  Japanese  ad- 
visers, and  we  are  prepared  loyally  to  carry  out  their 
suggestions.  We  recognize  the  mistakes  of  the  past.  It 
is  not  for  ourselves  we  plead,  but  for  the  Korean  people. 

""At  the  beginning  of  the  war  our  people  gladly  wel- 
comed the  Japanese,  because  this  seemed  to  herald  needed 
reforms  and  a  general  bettering  of  conditions,  but  soon  it 
was  seen  that  no  genuine  reforms  were  intended  and 
the  people  had  been  deceived. 

"  One  of  the  gravest  evils  that  will  follow  a  protectorate 
by  Japan  is  that  the  Korean  people  will  lose  all  incentive 
to  improvement.  No  hope  will  remain  that  they  can  ever 
regain  their  independence.  They  need  the  spur  of  na- 
tional feeling  to  make  them  determine  upon  progress  and 
to  make  them  persevere  in  it.  But  the  extinction  of 
nationality  will  bring  despair,  and  instead  of  working 
loyally  and  gladly  in  conjunction  with  Japan,  the  old-time 
hatred  will  be  intensified  and  suspicion  and  animosity 
will  result. 

"  It  has  been  said  that  sentiment  should  have  no  place 
in  such  affairs,  but  we  believe,  sir,  that  sentiment  is  the 
moving  force  in  all  human  affairs,  and  that  kindness, 
sympathy,  and  generosity  are  still  working  between  na- 
tions as  between  individuals.  We  beg  of  you  to  bring 
to  bear  upon  this  question  the  same  breadth  of  mind  and 
the  same  calmness  of  judgment  that  have  characterized 
your  course  hitherto,  and,  having  weighed  the  matter, 
to  render  us  what  aid  you  can  consistently  in  this  our 
time  of  national  danger. " 

[Private  Seal  of  the  Emperor  of  Korea.] 


VI 

THE  RULE  OF  PRINCE  ITO 

MARQUIS  ITO  was  made  the  first  Japa- 
nese Resident-General  in  Korea.  There 
could  have  been  no  better  choice,  and  no 
choice  more  pleasing  to  the  Korean  people.  He  was 
regarded  by  the  responsible  men  of  the  nation  with 
a  friendliness  such  as  few  other  Japanese  inspired. 
Here  was  a  man  greater  than  his  policies.  Every- 
one who  came  in  contact  with  him  felt  that,  what- 
ever the  nature  of  the  measures  he  was  driven  to 
adopt  in  the  supposed  interests  of  his  Emperor,  he 
yet  sincerely  meant  well  by  the  Korean  people. 
The  faults  of  his  administration  were  the  necessary 
accompaniments  of  Japanese  military  expansion; 
his  virtues  were  his  own.  It  was  a  noble  act  for 
him  to  take  on  himself  the  most  burdensome  and 
exacting  post  that  Japanese  diplomacy  had  to  offer, 
at  an  age  when  he  might  well  have  looked  for  the 
ease  and  dignity  of  the  close  of  an  honour-sated 
career. 

The  Marquis  brought  with  him  several  capable 
Japanese  officials  of  high  rank,  and  began  his  new 
rule  by  issuing  regulations  fixing  the  position  and 
duties  of  his  staff.  Under  these,  the  Resident- 
General  became  in  effect  supreme  Administrator  of 
Korea,  with  power  to  do  what  he  pleased.     He  had 

104 


THE  RULE  OF  PRINCE  ITO  105 

authority  to  repeal  any  order  or  measure  that  he 
considered  injurious  to  public  interests,  and  he 
could  punish  to  the  extent  of  not  more  than  a  year's 
imprisonment  or  not  more  than  a  200  yen  fine. 
This  limitation  of  his  punitive  power  was  purely 
nominal,  for  the  country  was  under  martial  law  and 
the  courts-martial  had  power  to  inflict  death.  Resi- 
dents and  Vice-Residents,  of  Japanese  nationality, 
were  placed  over  the  country,  acting  practically  as 
governors.  The  police  were  placed  under  Japanese 
inspectors  where  they  were  not  themselves  Japa- 
nese. The  various  departments  of  affairs,  agri- 
cultural, commercial,  and  industrial,  were  given 
Japanese  directors  and  advisers,  and  the  power  of 
appointing  all  officials,  save  those  of  the  highest 
rank,  was  finally  in  the  hands  of  the  Resident-Gen- 
eral. This  limitation,  again,  was  soon  put  on  one 
side.  Thus,  the  Resident-General  became  dictator 
of  Korea — a  dictator,  however,  who  still  conducted 
certain  branches  of  local  affairs  there  through  na- 
tive officials  and  who  had  to  reckon  with  the  in- 
trigues of  a  Court  party  which  he  could  not  as  yet 
sweep  on  one  side. 

To  Japan,  Korea  was  chiefly  of  importance  as  a 
strategic  position  for  military  operations  on  the 
continent  of  Asia  and  as  a  field  for  emigration.  The 
first  steps  under  the  new  administration  were  in  the 
direction  of  perfecting  communications  throughout 
the  country,  so  as  to  enable  the  troops  to  be  moved 
easily  and  rapidly  from  point  to  point.  A  railway 
had  already  been  built  from  Fusan  to  Seoul,  and 


106  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

another  was  in  course  of  completion  from  Seoul  to 
Wi-ju,  thus  giving  a  trunk  line  that  would  carry 
large  numbers  of  Japanese  soldiers  from  Japan 
itself  to  the  borders  of  Manchuria  in  about  thirty- 
six  hours.  A  loan  of  10,000,000  yen  was  raised  on 
the  guarantee  of  the  Korean  Customs,  and  a  million 
and  a  half  of  this  was  spent  on  four  main  military 
roads,  connecting  some  of  the  chief  districts  with 
the  principal  harbours  and  railway  centres.  Part 
of  the  cost  of  these  was  paid  by  the  loan  and  part 
by  special  local  taxation.  It  may  be  pointed  out 
that  these  roads  were  military  rather  than  indus- 
trial undertakings.  The  usual  methods  of  travel 
and  for  conveying  goods  in  the  interior  of  Korea 
was  by  horseback  and  with  pack-ponies.  For 
these,  the  old  narrow  tracks  served,  generally 
speaking,  very  well.  The  new  roads  were  finely 
graded,  and  were  built  in  such  a  manner  that  rails 
could  be  quickly  laid  down  on  them  and  artillery 
and  ammunition  wagons  rapidly  conveyed  from 
point  to  point.  Another  railway  was  built  from 
Seoul  to  Gensan,  on  the  east  coast. 

The  old  Korean  "  Burglar  Capture  Office,"  the 
native  equivalent  to  the  Bow  Street  Runners,  or 
the  Mulberry  Street  detectives,  was  abolished,  as 
were  the  local  police,  and  police  administration  was 
more  and  more  put  in  the  hands  of  special  con- 
stables brought  over  from  Japan.  The  Japanese 
military  gendarmerie  were  gradually  sent  back  and 
their  places  taken  by  civilian  constables.  This 
change  was  wholly  for  the  good.     The  gendarmerie 


THE  KULE  OF  PEINCE  ITO  107 

had  earned  a  very  bad  reputation  in  country  parts 
for  harshness  and  arbitrary  conduct.  The  civilian 
police  proved  themselves  far  better  men,  more  con- 
ciliatory, and  more  just. 

One  real  improvement  instituted  by  the  Resi- 
dency-General was  the  closer  control  of  Japanese 
immigrants.  Numbers  of  the  worst  offenders  were 
laid  by  the  heels  and  sent  back  home.  The  Resi- 
dency officials  were  increased  in  numbers,  and  in 
some  parts  at  least  it  became  easier  for  a  Korean 
to  obtain  a  hearing  when  he  had  a  complaint 
against  a  Japanese.  The  Marquis  Ito  spoke  con- 
stantly in  favour  of  a  policy  of  conciliation  and 
friendship,  and  after  a  time  he  succeeded  in  winning 
over  the  cooperation  of  some  of  the  foreigners. 

It  became  more  and  more  clear,  however,  that 
the  aim  of  the  Japanese  was  nothing  else  than  the 
entire  absorption  of  the  country  and  the  destruction 
of  every  trace  of  Korean  nationality.  One  of 
the  most  influential  Japanese  in  Korea  put  this 
quite  frankly  to  me  in  1906.  "  You  must  un- 
derstand that  I  am  not  expressing  official 
views,',  he  told  me.  "  But  if  you  ask  me  as  an 
individual  what  is  to  be  the  outcome  of  our 
policy,  I  only  see  one  end.  This  will  take  sev- 
eral generations,  but  it  must  come.  The  Korean 
people  will  be  absorbed  by  the  Japanese.  They 
will  talk  our  language,  live  our  life,  and  be  an  in- 
tegral part  of  us.  There  are  only  two  ways  of 
colonial  administration.  One  is  to  rule  over  the 
people  as  aliens.     This  you  British  have  done  in 


108  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

India,  and  therefore  your  Empire  cannot  endure. 
India  must  pass  out  of  your  rule.  The  second  way 
is  to  absorb  the  people.  This  is  what  we  will  do. 
We  will  teach  them  our  language,  establish  our 
institutions,  and  make  them  one  with  us." 

The  policy  of  the  new  administration  towards 
foreigners  was  one  of  gradual,  but  no  less  sure,  ex- 
clusion. Everything  that  could  be  done  was  done 
to  rob  the  white  man  of  what  prestige  was  yet  left 
to  him.  Careful  and  systematic  efforts  were  made, 
in  particular,  by  the  Japanese  newspapers  and  some 
of  the  officials  to  make  the  native  Christian  con- 
verts turn  from  their  American  teachers,  and  throw 
in  their  lot  with  the  Japanese.  The  native  press, 
under  Japanese  editorship,  systematically  preached 
anti-white  doctrines.  Any  one  who  mixed  freely 
with  the  Korean  people  heard  from  them,  time  after 
time,  of  the  principles  the  Japanese  would  fain  have 
them  learn.  I  was  told  of  this  by  ex-Cabinet 
Ministers,  by  young  students,  and  even  by  native 
servants.  One  of  my  own  Korean  "  boys  "  put  the 
matter  in  a  nutshell  to  me  one  day.  He  raised  the 
question  of  the  future  of  Japan  in  Asia,  and  he  sum- 
marized the  new  Japanese  doctrines  very  succinctly. 
"  Master,"  he  said  to  me,  "Japanese  man  wanchee 
all  Asia  be  one,  with  Japanese  man  topside.  All 
Japanese  man  wanchee  this;  some  Korean  man 
wanchee,  most  no  wanchee;  all  Chinaman  no 
wanchee." 

It  may  be  thought  that  the  Japanese  would  at 
least  have  learnt  from  their  experience  in  1895  not 


THE  KULE  OF  PRINCE  ITO  109 

to  attempt  to  interfere  with  the  dress  or  personal 
habits  of  the  people.  Nothing  among  all  their 
blunders  during  the  earlier  period  was  more  dis- 
astrous to  them  than  the  regulations  compelling  the 
men  to  cut  off  their  topknots.  These  did  Japan 
greater  harm  among  the  common  people  than  even 
the  murder  of  the  Queen.  Yet  no  sooner  had 
Japan  established  herself  again  than  once  more 
sumptuary  regulations  were  issued.  The  first  was 
an  order  against  wearing  white  dress  in  winter- 
time. People  were  to  attire  themselves  in  nothing 
but  dark-coloured  garments,  and  those  who  re- 
fused to  obey  were  coerced  in  many  ways.  The 
Japanese  did  not  at  once  insist  on  a  general  system 
of  hair-cutting,  but  they  brought  the  greatest  pres- 
sure to  bear  on  all  in  any  way  under  their  authority. 
Court  officials,  public  servants,  magistrates,  and  the 
like,  were  commanded  to  cut  their  hair.  Officials 
were  evidently  instructed  to  make  every  one  who 
came  under  their  influence  have  his  topknot  off. 
The  II  Chin  Hoi,  the  pro-Japanese  society,  followed 
in  the  same  line.  European  dress  was  forced  on 
those  connected  with  the  Court.  The  national  cos- 
tume, like  the  national  language,  was,  if  possible,  to 
die.  Ladies  of  the  Court  were  ordered  to  dress 
themselves  in  foreign  style.  The  poor  ladies  in 
consequence  found  it  impossible  to  show  them- 
selves in  any  public  place,  for  they  were  greeted 
with  roars  of  derision. 

The  lowered  status  of  the  white  in  Korea  could 
be  clearly  seen  by  the  attitude  of  many  of  the  Japa- 


110  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

nese  towards  him.  I  heard  stories  from  friends  of 
my  own,  residents  in  the  country,  quiet  and  in- 
offensive people  that  made  my  blood  boil.  It  was 
difficult,  for  instance,  to  restrain  one's  indignation 
when  a  missionary  lady  told  you  of  how  she  was 
walking  along  the  street  when  a  Japanese  soldier 
hustled  up  against  her  and  deliberately  struck  her 
in  the  breast.  The  Roman  Catholic  bishop  was 
openly  insulted  and  struck  by  Japanese  soldiers  in 
his  own  cathedral,  and  nothing  was  done.  The 
story  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Weigall  typifies  others.  Mr. 
Weigall  is  an  Australian  mining  engineer,  and  was 
travelling  up  north  with  his  wife  and  assistant,  Mr. 
Taylor,  and  some  Korean  servants,  in  December, 
1905.  He  had  full  authorizations  and  passports, 
and  was  going  about  his  business  in  a  perfectly 
proper  manner.  His  party  was  stopped  at  one 
point  by  some  Japanese  soldiers,  and  treated  in  a 
fashion  which  it  is  impossible  fully  to  describe  in 
print.  They  were  insulted,  jabbed  at  with  bay- 
onets, and  put  under  arrest.  One  soldier  held  his 
gun  close  to  Mrs.  Weigall  and  struck  her  full  in 
the  chest  with  his  closed  fist  when  she  moved. 
The  man  called  them  by  the  most  insulting  names 
possible,  keeping  the  choicest  phrases  for  the  lady. 
Their  servants  were  kicked.  Finally  they  were 
allowed  to  go  away  after  a  long  delay  and  long 
exposure  to  bitter  weather,  repeated  insults  being 
hurled  after  them.  The  British  authorities  took 
up  this  case.  There  was  abundant  evidence,  and 
there  could  be  no  dispute  about  the  facts.     All  the 


THE  RULE  OP  PRINCE  ITO  111 

satisfaction,  however,  that  the  Weigalls  could  ob- 
tain was  a  nominal  apology. 

Then  there  was  the  case  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  McRae, 
a  Canadian  missionary  living  in  northeastern 
Korea.  Mr.  McRae  had  obtained  some  land  for 
a  mission  station,  and  the  Japanese  military  author- 
ities there  wanted  it.  They  drove  stakes  into  part 
of  the  property,  and  he  thereupon  represented  the 
case  to  the  Japanese  officials,  and  after  at  least 
twice  asking  them  to  remove  their  stakes,  he  pulled 
them  up  himself.  The  Japanese  waited  until  a 
fellow-missionary,  who  lived  with  Mr.  McRae,  had 
gone  away  on  a  visit,  and  then  six  soldiers  entered 
his  compound  and  attacked  him.  He  defended 
himself  so  well  that  he  finally  drove  them  off,  al- 
though he  received  some  bad  injuries,  especially 
from  the  blows  from  one  of  the  men's  rifles.  Com- 
plaint was  made  to  the  chief  authorities,  and,  in 
this  case,  the  Japanese  promised  to  punish  the  of- 
ficer concerned.  But  there  were  dozens  of  in- 
stances affecting  Europeans  of  all  ranks,  from  con- 
sular officials  to  chance  visitors.  In  most  cases  the 
complaints  were  met  by  a  simple  denial  on  the  part 
of  the  Japanese.  Even  where  the  offence  was  ad- 
mitted and  punishment  was  promised,  the  Euro- 
peans would  assure  you  that  the  men,  whom  it  had 
been  promised  to  imprison,  came  and  paraded  them- 
selves outside  their  houses  immediately  afterwards 
in  triumph.  In  Korea,  as  in  Formosa,  the  policy 
was  and  is  to  humiliate  the  white  man  by  any  means 
and  in  any  way. 


112  KOKEA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FEEEDOM 

Two  regulations  of  the  Japanese,  apparently 
framed  in  the  interests  of  the  Koreans,  proved  to  be 
a  dangerous  blow  at  their  rights.  New  land  laws 
were  drawn  up,  by  which  fresh  title-deeds  were 
given  for  the  old  and  complicated  deeds  of  former 
times.  As  the  Koreans,  however,  pointed  out, 
large  numbers  of  people  held  their  land  in  such  a 
way  that  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  prove  their 
right  by  written  deeds.  Until  the  end  of  1905  large 
numbers  of  Koreans  went  abroad  to  Honolulu  and 
elsewhere  as  labourers.  The  Residency-General 
then  framed  new  emigration  laws,  nominally  to 
protect  the  natives,  which  have  had  the  result  of 
making  the  old  systematic  emigration  impossible. 
Families  who  would  fain  have  escaped  the  Japanese 
rule  and  establish  themselves  in  other  lands  had 
every  possible  hindrance  put  in  their  way. 

Act  after  act  revealed  that  the  Japanese  con- 
sidered Korea  and  all  in  it  belonged  to  them.  Did 
they  want  a  thing?  Then  let  them  take  it,  and  woe 
be  to  the  man  who  dared  to  hinder  them !  This 
attitude  was  illustrated  in  an  interesting  fashion  by 
a  bit  of  vandalism  on  the  part  of  Viscount  Tanaka, 
Special  Envoy  from  the  Mikado  to  the  Korean 
Emperor.  When  the  Viscount  was  in  Seoul,  late 
in  1906,  he  was  approached  by  a  Japanese  curio- 
dealer,  who  pointed  out  to  him  that  there  was  a 
very  famous  old  Pagoda  in  the  district  of  P'ung- 
duk,  a  short  distance  from  Song-do.  This  Pagoda 
was  presented  to  Korea  by  the  Chinese  Imperial 
Court  a  thousand  years  ago,  and  the  people  be- 


THE  EULE  OF  PKINCE  ITO  113 

lieved  that  the  stones  of  which  it  was  constructed 
possessed  great  curative  qualities.  They  named  it 
the  "Medicine  King  Pagoda "  (Yakwang  Top),  and 
its  fame  was  known  throughout  the  country.  It  was 
a  national  memorial  as  much  as  the  Monument  near 
London  Bridge  is  a  national  memorial  for  English- 
men or  the  Statue  of  Liberty  for  Americans.  Vis- 
count Tanaka  is  a  great  curio-collector,  and  when 
he  heard  of  this  Pagoda,  he  longed  for  it.  He  men- 
tioned his  desire  to  the  Korean  Minister  for  the 
Imperial  Household,  and  the  Minister  told  him  to 
take  it  if  he  wanted  it.  A  few  days  afterwards, 
Viscount  Tanaka,  when  bidding  the  Emperor  fare- 
well, thanked  him  for  the  gift.  The  Korean  Em- 
peror looked  blank,  and  said  that  he  did  not  know 
what  the  Viscount  was  talking  about.  He  had 
heard  nothing  of  it. 

However,  before  long,  a  party  of  eighty  Japa- 
nese, including  a  number  of  gendarmes,  well 
armed  and  ready  for  resistance,  swooped  down  on 
Song-do.  They  took  the  Pagoda  to  pieces  and 
placed  the  stones  on  carts.  The  people  of  the  dis- 
trict gathered  round  them,  threatened  them,  and 
tried  to  attack  them.  But  the  Japanese  were  too 
strong.  The  Pagoda  was  conveyed  in  due  course 
to  Tokyo. 

Such  an  outrage  could  not  go  unnoticed.  The 
story  of  the  loss  spread  over  the  country  and 
reached  the  foreign  press.  Defenders  of  the  Japa- 
nese at  first  declared  that  it  was  an  obvious  and 
incredible  lie.     The  Japan  Mail  in  particular  opened 


114  KOKEA'S  FIGHT  FOB  FEEEDOM 

the  vials  of  its  wrath  and  poured  them  upon  the 
head  of  the  editor  of  the  Korea  Daily  News — the 
English  daily  publication  in  Seoul — who  had  dared 
to  tell  the  tale.  His  story  was  "  wholly  incredible." 
"  It  is  impossible  to  imagine  any  educated  man  of 
ordinary  intelligence  foolish  enough  to  believe  such 
a  palpable  lie,  unless  he  be  totally  blinded  by  preju- 
dice." The  Mail  discovered  here  again  another 
reason  for  supporting  its  plea  for  the  suppression 
of  "  a  wholly  unscrupulous  and  malevolent  mis- 
chief-maker like  the  Korea  Daily  News"  "  The 
Japanese  should  think  seriously  whether  this  kind 
of  thing  is  to  be  tamely  suffered.  In  allowing  such 
charges  at  the  door  of  the  Mikado's  Special  Envoy 
who  is  also  Minister  of  the  Imperial  Household,  the 
Korea  Daily  News  deliberately  insults  the  Mikado 
himself.  There  is  indeed  the  reflection  that  this 
extravagance  will  not  be  without  compensation, 
since  it  will  demonstrate  conclusively,  if  any  demon- 
stration were  needed,  how  completely  unworthy  of 
credence  have  been  the  slanders  hitherto  ventilated 
by  the  Seoul  journal  to  bring  the  Japanese  into 
odium." 

There  were  instant  demands  for  denials,  for  ex- 
planations, and  for  proceedings  against  the  wicked 
libeller.  Then  it  turned  out  that  the  story  was 
true,  and,  in  the  end,  the  Japanese  officials  had  to 
admit  its  truth.  It  was  said,  as  an  excuse,  that  the 
Resident-General  had  not  given  his  consent  to  the 
theft,  and  that  Viscount  Tanaka  did  not  intend  to 
keep  the  Pagoda  himself,  but  to  present  it  to  the 


THE  EULE  OP  PRINCE  ITO  115 

Mikado.  The  organ  of  the  Residency-General  in 
Seoul,  the  Seoul  Press,  made  the  best  excuse  it 
could.  "  Viscount  Tanaka,"  it  said,  "is  a '  con- 
scientious official,  liked  and  respected  by  those 
who  know  him,  whether  foreign  or  Japanese,  but 
he  is  an  ardent  virtuoso  and  collector,  and  it  ap- 
pears that  in  this  instance  his  collector's  eagerness 
got  the  better  of  his  sober  judgment  and  dis- 
cretion." But  excuses,  apologies,  and  regrets  not- 
withstanding, the  Pagoda  was  not  returned. 

It  may  be  asked  why  the  white  people  living  in 
Korea  did  not  make  the  full  facts  about  Korea 
known  at  an  earlier  date.  Some  did  attempt  it,  but 
the  strong  feeling  that  existed  abroad  in  favour  of 
the  Japanese  people — a  feeling  due  to  their  magnifi- 
cent conduct  during  the  war — caused  complaints 
to  go  unheeded.  Many  missionaries,  while  in- 
dignant at  the  injury  done  to  their  native  neigh- 
bours, counselled  patience,  believing  that  the  abuses 
were  temporary  and  would  soon  come  to  an  end. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war  every  foreigner — 
except  a  small  group  of  pro-Russians,  sympathized 
with  Japan.  We  had  all  been  alienated  by  the 
follies  and  mistakes  of  the  Russian  Far  Eastern 
policy.  We  saw  Japan  at  her  best,  and  we  all  be- 
lieved that  her  people  would  act  well  by  this  weaker 
race.  Our  favourable  impressions  were  strength- 
ened by  the  first  doings  of  the  Japanese  soldiers, 
and  when  scandals  were  whispered,  and  oppression 
began  to  appear,  we  all  looked  upon  them  as 
momentary  disturbances  due  to  a  condition  of  war. 


116  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

We  were  unwilling  to  believe  anything  but  the  best, 
and  it  took  some  time  to  destroy  our  favourable 
prepossessions.  I  speak  here  not  only  for  myself, 
but  for  many  another  white  man  in  Korea  at  the 
time. 

I  might  support  this  by  many  quotations.  I  take, 
for  instance,  Professor  Hulbert,  the  editor  of  the 
Korea  Review,  to-day  one  of  the  most  persistent  and 
active  critics  of  Japanese  policy.  At  the  opening  of 
the  war  Professor  Hulbert  used  all  his  influence 
in  favour  of  Japan. 

"  What  Korea  wants,"  he  wrote,  "  is  education,  and 
until  steps  are  taken  in  that  line  there  is  no  use  in  hoping 
for  a  genuinely  independent  Korea.  Now,  we  believe 
that  a  large  majority  of  the  best-informed  Koreans  realize 
that  Japan  and  Japanese  influence  stand  for  education 
and  enlightenment,  and  that  while  the  paramount  in- 
fluence of  any  one  outside  Power  is  in  some  sense  a 
humiliation,  the  paramount  influence  of  Japan  will  give 
far  less  genuine  cause  for  humiliation  than  has  the  para- 
mount influence  of  Russia.  Russia  secured  her  predomi- 
nance by  pandering  to  the  worst  elements  in  Korean 
officialdom.  Japan  holds  it  by  strength  of  arm,  but  she 
holds  it  in  such  a  way  that  it  gives  promise  of  something 
better.  The  word  reform  never  passed  the  Russians' 
lips.  It  is  the  insistent  cry  of  Japan.  The  welfare  of 
the  Korean  people  never  showed  its  head  above  the 
Russian  horizon,  but  it  fills  the  whole  vision  of  Japan; 
not  from  altruistic  motives  mainly  but  because  the  pros- 
perity of  Korea  and  that  of  Japan  rise  and  fall  with  the 
same  tide." ' 

Month  after  month,  when  stories  of  trouble  came 
from  the  interior,  the  Korea  Review  endeavoured  to 
1  Korea  Review,  February,  1904. 


THE  KULE  OF  PEINOE  ITO  117 

give  the  best  explanation  possible  for  them,  and  to 
reassure  the  public.  It  was  not  until  the  editor  was 
forced  thereto  by  consistent  and  sustained  Japanese 
misgovernment  that  he  reversed  his  attitude. 

Foreign  visitors  of  influence  were  naturally 
drawn  to  the  Japanese  rather  than  to  the  Koreans. 
They  found  in  the  officials  of  the  Residency-General 
a  body  of  capable  and  delightful  men,  who  knew  the 
Courts  of  Europe,  and  were  familiar  with  world 
affairs.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Korean  spokes- 
men had  no  power  or  skill  in  putting  their  case  so 
as  to  attract  European  sympathy.  One  dis- 
tinguished foreigner,  who  returned  home  and  wrote 
a  book  largely  given  up  to  laudation  of  the  Japa- 
nese and  contemptuous  abuse  of  the  Koreans,  ad- 
mitted that  he  had  never,  during  his  journey,  had 
any  contact  with  Koreans  save  those  his  Japanese 
guides  brought  to  him.  Some  foreign  journalists 
were  also  at  first  blinded  in  the  same  way. 

Such  a  state  of  affairs  obviously  could  not  last. 
Gradually  the  complaints  of  the  foreign  community 
became  louder  and  louder,  and  visiting  publicists 
began  to  take  more  notice  of  them. 

The  main  credit  for  defending  the  cause  of  the 
Korean  people  at  that  time  must  be  given  to  a 
young  English  journalist,  editor  of  the  Korea  Daily 
News.  Mr.  Bethell  took  up  an  attitude  of  strong 
hostility  to  the  Nagamori  land  scheme,  and  came, 
in  consequence,  in  sharp  hostility  to  the  Japanese 
officials.  This  naturally  led  to  his  close  association 
with  the  Korean  Court.     The  Daily  News  became 


118  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

openly  pro-Korean;  its  one  daily  edition  was 
changed  into  two  separate  papers — one,  the  Dai 
Han  Mai  11  Shinpo,  printed  in  the  Korean  language, 
and  the  other,  printed  in  English,  still  calling  itself 
by  the  old  name.  Several  of  us  thought  that  Mr. 
Bethell  at  first  weakened  his  case  by  extreme  ad- 
vocacy and  by  his  indulgence  in  needlessly  vin- 
dictive writing.  Yet  it  must  be  remembered,  in 
common  justice  to  him,  that  he  was  playing  a  very 
difficult  part.  The  Japanese  were  making  his  life 
as  uncomfortable  as  they  possibly  could,  and  were 
doing  everything  to  obstruct  his  work.  His  mails 
were  constantly  tampered  with;  his  servants  were 
threatened  or  arrested  on  various  excuses,  and  his 
household  was  subjected  to  the  closest  espionage. 
He  displayed  surprising  tenacity,  and  held  on 
month  after  month  without  showing  any  sign  of 
yielding.  The  complaint  of  extreme  bitterness 
could  not  be  urged  against  his  journal  to  the  same 
extent  after  the  spring  of  1907.  From  that  time  he 
adopted  a  more  quiet  and  convincing  tone.  He  at- 
tempted on  many  occasions  to  restrain  what  he  con- 
sidered the  unwise  tactics  of  some  Korean  ex- 
tremists. He  did  his  best  to  influence  public 
opinion  against  taking  up  arms  to  fight  Japan. 

Failing  to  conciliate  the  editor,  the  Japanese 
sought  to  destroy  him.  In  order  to  cut  the  ground 
from  under  his  feet  an  opposition  paper,  printed  in 
English,  was  started,  with  an  able  Japanese  jour- 
nalist, Mr.  Zumoto,  Prince  Ito's  leading  spokesman 
in  the  press,  as  editor.     Few  could  have  done  the 


THE  RULE  OF  PRINCE  ITO  119 

work  better  than  Mr.  Zumoto,  but  his  paper,  the 
Seoul  Press,  failed  to  destroy  the  Daily  News. 

Diplomacy  was  now  brought  into  play.  During 
the  summer  of  1906,  the  Japanese  caused  the  trans- 
lations of  a  number  of  articles  from  the  Dai  Han 
Mai  II  Shinpo  (the  Korean  edition  of  the  Daily  Mail) 
to  be  submitted  to  the  British  Government,  with  a 
request  that  Mr.  Bethell's  journal  might  be  sup- 
pressed. 

On  Saturday,  October  12th,  Mr.  Bethell  received 
a  summons  to  appear  on  the  following  Monday  at 
a  specially  appointed  Consular  Court,  to  answer  the 
charge  of  adopting  a  course  of  action  likely  to  cause 
a  breach  of  the  peace. 

The  trial  took  place  in  the  Consular  building,  Mr. 
Cockburn,  the  very  able  British  Consul-General, 
acting  as  Judge.  The  short  notice  made  it  impos- 
sible for  Mr.  Bethell  to  obtain  legal  aid,  as  there 
were  no  British  lawyers  nearer  than  Shanghai  or 
Kobe.  He  had  to  plead  his  cause  under  great  dis- 
advantages. 

Eight  articles  were  produced  in  court.  Six  were 
comments  on  or  descriptions  of  fighting  then  taking 
place  in  the  interior.  They  were  no  stronger,  if 
as  strong,  as  many  of  the  statements  published  in 
this  book. 

The  Consul-General's  decision  was  as  anticipated. 
He  convicted  the  editor,  and  ordered  him  to  enter 
into  recognizances  of  £300  to  be  of  good  behaviour 
for  six  months.  The  Korea  Daily  News  in  comment- 
ing on  the  matter,  said,  "  The  effect  of  this  judg- 


120  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

merit  is  that  for  a  period  of  six  months  this  news- 
paper will  be  gagged,  and  therefore  no  further  re- 
ports of  Japanese  reverses  can  be  published  in  our 
columns." 

In  June,  1908,  Mr.  Bethell  was  again  prosecuted 
at  a  specially  convened  court  at  Seoul,  presided  over 
by  Judge  Bourne  of  Shanghai.  The  charge,  made 
by  Yagoro  Miura,  Secretary  to  the  Residency-Gen- 
eral and  Resident  for  Seoul,  was  of  publishing  vari- 
ous articles  calculated  to  excite  disorder  and  to  stir 
up  enmity  between  the  Government  of  Korea  and 
its  subjects. 

Mr.  Bethell  was  represented  by  counsel  and  ap- 
plied to  have  the  case  heard  before  a  jury.  The 
application  was  refused.  He  was  convicted,  sen- 
tenced to  three  weeks'  imprisonment  and  required 
to  give  security  for  good  behaviour  for  six  months. 
He  did  not  very  long  survive  his  sentence. 

The  people  of  Korea  cherish  his  memory,  and 
the^name  of  "  Beth-ell,"  as  they  call  him,  is  already 
becoming  traditional.  "We  are  going  to  build  a 
great  statue  to  Beth-ell  some  day,"  they  say.  "  We 
will  never  forget  the  man  who  was  our  friend,  and 
who  went  to  prison  for  us." 


VII 
THE  ABDICATION  OF  YI  HYEUNG 

THE  Court  party  was  from  the  first  the 
strongest  opponent  of  the  Japanese. 
Patriotism,  tradition,  and  selfish  interests 
all  combined  to  intensify  the  resistance  of  its  mem- 
bers. Some  officials  found  their  profits  threatened, 
some  mourned  for  perquisites  that  were  cut  off, 
some  were  ousted  out  of  their  places  to  make  room 
for  Japanese,  and  most  felt  a  not  unnatural  anger 
to  see  men  of  another  race  quietly  assume  authority 
over  their  Emperor  and  their  country.  The  Em- 
peror led  the  opposition.  Old  perils  had  taught 
him  cunning.  He  knew  a  hundred  ways  to  feed 
the  stream  of  discontent,  without  himself  coming 
forward.  Unfortunately  there  was  a  fatal  strain 
of  weakness  in  his  character.  He  would  support 
vigorous  action  in  secret,  and  then,  when  men 
translated  his  speech  into  deeds,  he  would  disavow 
them  at  the  bidding  of  the  Japanese.  On  one  point 
he  never  wavered.  All  attempts  to  make  him  for- 
mally consent  to  the  treaty  of  November,  1905,  [ 
were  in  vain.  "  I  would  sooner  die  first!  "  he  cried.  ■ 
"  I  would  sooner  take  poison  and  end  all !  " 

In  July,  1906,  the  Marquis  Ito  began  to  exercise 

121 


122  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

stronger  constraint  on  the  personal  life  of  the  Em- 
peror. One  evening  a  number  of  Japanese  police 
were  brought  into  the  palace.  The  old  palace 
guards  were  withdrawn,  and  the  Emperor  was 
made  virtually  a  prisoner.  Police  officers  were 
posted  at  each  gate,  and  no  one  was  allowed  in  or 
out  without  a  permit  from  a  Japanese-nominated 
official.  At  the  same  time  many  of  the  old  palace 
attendants  were  cleared  out.  The  Resident-Gen- 
eral thought  that  if  the  Emperor  were  isolated  from 
his  friends,  and  if  he  were  constantly  surrounded  by 
enthusiastic  advocates  of  Japan,  he  might  be  coerced 
or  influenced  into  submission.  Yet  here  Marquis 
Ito  had  struck  against  a  vein  of  obstinacy  and  de- 
termination that  he  could  scarce  have  reckoned 
with. 

The  Emperor  had  taken  every  opportunity  to 
send  messages  abroad  protesting  against  the  treaty. 
He  managed,  time  after  time,  still  to  hold  communi- 
cation with  his  friends,  but  the  Japanese  took  good 
care  that  traitors  should  come  to  him  and  be  loud- 
est in  their  expressions  of  loyalty.  Little  that  he 
did  but  was  immediately  known  to  his  captors.  In 
the  early  summer  of  1907  the  Emperor  thought 
that  he  saw  his  chance  at  last  of  striking  a  blow  for 
freedom  through  the  Hague  Conference.  He  was 
still  convinced  that  if  he  could  only  assure  the 
Powers  that  he  had  never  consented  to  the  treaty 
.robbing  Korea  of  its  independence,  they  would  then 
send  their  Ministers  back  to  Seoul  and  cause  Japan 
to  relax  her  hand.    Accordingly,  amid  great  secrecy, 


THE  ABDICATION  OP  YI  HYETJNG        123 

three  Korean  delegates  of  high  rank  were  provided 
with  funds  and  despatched  to  the  Hague  under  the 
guardianship  of  Mr.  Hulbert.  They  reached  the 
Hague  only  to  be  refused  a  hearing.  The  Confer- 
ence would  have  nothing  to  say  to  them. 

This  action  on  the  part  of  the  Emperor  gave  the 
Japanese  an  excuse  they  had  long  been  looking  for. 
The  formation  of  the  Korean  Cabinet  had  been 
altered  months  before  in  anticipation  of  such  a 
crisis,  and  the  Cabinet  Ministers  were  now  nomi- 
nated not  by  the  Emperor,  but  by  the  Resident- 
General.  The  Emperor  had  been  deprived  of  ad- 
ministrative and  executive  power.  The  Marquis 
Ito  had  seen  to  it  that  the  Ministers  were  wholly 
his  tools.  The  time  had  come  when  his  tools  were 
to  cut.  The  Japanese  Government  assumed  an  atti- 
tude of  silent  wrath.  It  could  not  allow  such  of- 
fences to  go  unpunished,  its  friends  declared,  but 
what  punishment  it  would  inflict  it  refused  to  say. 

Proceedings  were  much  more  cleverly  stage- 
managed  than  in  November,  1905.  Nominally,  the 
Japanese  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  abdication  of 
the  Emperor.  Actually  the  Cabinet  Ministers  held 
their  gathering  at  the  Residency-General  to  decide 
on  their  policy,  and  did  as  they  were  instructed. 
They  went  to  the  Emperor  and  demanded  that  he 
should  abandon  the  throne  to  save  his  country  from 
being  swallowed  up  by  Japan.  At  first  he  refused, 
upon  which  their  insistence  grew  greater.  No  news 
of  sympathy  or  help  reached  him  from  foreign 
lands.     Knowing  the  perils  surrounding  him,  he 


124  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FREEDOM 

thought  that  he  would  trick  them  all  by  a  simple 
device.  He  would  make  his  son,  the  Crown  Prince, 
temporary  Emperor,  using  a  Chinese  ideograph  for 
his  new  title  which  could  scarce  be  distinguished 
from  the  title  giving  him  final  and  full  authority. 
Here  he  overreached  himself,  for,  once  out,  he  was 
out  for  good.  On  July  19th,  at  six  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  after  an  all-night  conference,  the  Em- 
peror was  persuaded  to  abdicate. 

The  new  Emperor,  feeble  of  intellect,  could  be 
little  more  than  a  tool  in  the  hands  of  his  advisers. 
His  father,  however,  intended  to  remain  by  his  side, 
and  to  rule  through  him.  In  less  than  a  week  the 
Japanese  had  prepared  a  new  treaty,  providing  still 
more  strictly  for  the  absolute  control  of  everything 
in  the  country  by  Japan.  The  six  curt  clauses  of 
this  measure  were  as  far-reaching  as  they  could 
possibly  be  made.  No  laws  were  to  be  acted  upon 
or  important  measures  taken  by  the  Government 
unless  the  consent  and  approval  of  the  Resident- 
General  had  been  previously  given.  All  officials 
were  to  hold  their  positions  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
Resident-General,  and  the  Government  of  Korea 
agreed  to  appoint  any  Japanese  the  Resident-Gen-' 
eral  might  recommend  to  any  post.  Finally,  the 
Government  of  Korea  was  to  engage  no  foreigner 
without  the  consent  of  the  Japanese  head. 

A  few  days  later  a  fresh  rescript  was  issued  in 
the  name  of  the  new  Emperor,  ordering  the  dis- 
bandment  of  the  Korean  Army.  This  was  written 
in  the  most  insulting  language  possible.     "  Our  ex- 


THE  ABDICATION  OF  YI  HYEUNG        125 

isting  army  which  is  composed  of  mercenaries,  is 
unfit  for  the  purposes  of  national  defence,"  it  de- 
clared. It  was  to  make  way  "  for  the  eventual 
formation  of  an  efficient  army."  To  add  to  the  in- 
sult, the  Korean  Premier,  Yi,  was  ordered  to  write 
a  request  to  the  Resident-General,  begging  him  to 
employ  the  Japanese  forces  to  prevent  disturbances 
when  the  disbandment  took  place.  It  was  as  though 
the  Japanese,  having  their  heel  on  the  neck  of  the 
enemy,  slapped  his  face  to  show  their  contempt  for 
him.  On  the  morning  of  August  1st  some  of  the 
superior  officers  of  the  Korean  Army  were  called 
to  the  residence  of  the  Japanese  commander,  Gen- 
eral Hasegawa,  and  the  Order  was  read  to  them. 
They  were  told  that  they  were  to  assemble  their 
men  next  morning,  without  arms,  and  to  dismiss 
them  after  paying  them  gratuities,  while  at  the 
same  time  their  weapons  would  be  secured  in  their 
absence. 

One  officer,  Major  Pak,  commander  of  the  smart- 
est and  best  of  the  Korean  battalions,  returned  to 
his  barracks  in  despair,  and  committed  suicide. 
His  men  learnt  of  what  had  happened  and  rose  in 
mutiny.  They  burst  upon  their  Japanese  military 
instructors  and  nearly  killed  them.  They  then 
forced  open  the  ammunition-room,  secured  weapons 
and  cartridges,  posted  themselves  behind  the  win- 
dows of  their  barracks,  and  fired  at  every  Japanese 
they  saw.  News  quickly  reached  the  authorities, 
and  Japanese  companies  of  infantry  hurried  out  and 
surrounded  their  barracks.     One  party  attacked  the 


126  KOKEA'S  FIGHT  FOB  FEEEDOM 

front  with  a  machine-gun,  and  another  assaulted 
from  behind.  Fighting  began  at  half-past  eight  in 
the  morning.  The  Koreans  defended  themselves 
until  noon,  and  then  were  finally  overcome  by  a 
bayonet  charge  from  the  rear.  Their  gallant  de- 
fence excited  the  greatest  admiration  even  among 
their  enemies,  and  it  was  notable  that  for  a  few 
days  at  least  the  Japanese  spoke  with  more  respect 
of  Korea  and  the  Korean  people  than  they  had  ever 
done  before. 

Only  one  series  of  incidents  disgraced  the  day. 
The  Japanese  soldiers  behaved  well  and  treated  the 
wounded  well,  but  that  night  parties  of  low-class 
bullies  emerged  from  the  Japanese  quarter,  seeking 
victims.  They  beat,  they  stabbed  and  murdered 
any  man  they  could  find  whom  they  suspected  of 
being  a  rebel.  Dozens  of  them  would  set  on  one 
helpless  victim  and  do  him  to  death.  This  was 
stopped  as  soon  as  the  Residency-General  knew 
what  was  happening,  and  a  number  of  offenders 
were  arrested. 

Late  in  August  the  new  Emperor  of  Korea  was 
crowned  amid  the  sullen  silence  of  a  resentful  peo- 
ple. Of  popular  enthusiasm  there  was  none.  A 
few  flags  were  displayed  in  the  streets  by  the  order 
of  the  police.  In  olden  times  a  coronation  had  been 
marked  by  great  festivities,  lasting  many  weeks. 
Now  there  was  gloom,  apathy,  indifference.  News 
was  coming  in  hourly  from  the  provinces  of  up- 
risings and  murders.  The  II  Chin  Hoi — they  call 
themselves  reformers,  but  the  nation  has  labelled 


THE  ABDICATION  OF  YI  HYEUHG        127 

them  traitors — attempted  to  make  a  feast,  but  the 
people  stayed  away.  "  This  is  the  day  not  for 
feasting  but  for  the  beginning  of  a  year  of  mourn- 
ing," men  muttered  one  to  the  other. 

The  Japanese  authorities  who  controlled  the 
coronation  ceremony  did  all  they  could  to  minimize 
it  and  to  prevent  independent  outside  publicity.  In 
this  they  were  well  advised.  No  one  who  looked 
upon  the  new  Emperor  as  he  entered  the  hall  of 
state,  his  shaking  frame  upborne  by  two  officials, 
or  as  he  stood  later,  with  open  mouth,  fallen  jaw, 
indifferent  eyes,  and  face  lacking  even  a  flickering 
gleam  of  intelligent  interest,  could  doubt  that  the 
fewer  who  saw  this  the  better.  Yet  the  ceremony, 
even  when  robbed  of  much  of  its  ancient  pomp  and 
all  its  dignity,  was  unique  and  picturesque. 

The  main  feature  of  this  day  was  not  so  much 
the  coronation  itself  as  the  cutting  of  the  Emperor's 
topknot. 

On  the  abdication  of  the  old  Emperor,  the  Cab- 
inet— who  were  enthusiastic  hair-cutters — saw  their 
opportunity.  The  new  Emperor  was  informed  that 
his  hair  must  be  cut.  He  did  not  like  it.  He 
thought  that  the  operation  would  be  painful,  and 
he  was  quite  satisfied  with  his  hair  as  it  was.  Then 
his  Cabinet  showed  him  a  brilliant  uniform,  covered 
with  gold  lace.  He  was  henceforth  to  wear  that 
on  ceremonial  occasions,  and  not  his  old  Korean 
dress.  How  could  he  put  on  the  plumed  hat  of  a 
Generalissimo  with  a  topknot  in  the  way?  The 
Cabinet  were  determined.     A  few  hours  later  a 


128  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

proclamation  was  spread  through  the  land  inform- 
ing all  dutiful  subjects  that  the  Emperor's  topknot 
was  coming  off,  and  urging  them  to  imitate  him. 

A  new  Court  servant  was  appointed — the  High 
Imperial  Hair-cutter.  He  displayed  his  uniform  in 
the  streets  around  the  palace,  a  sight  for  the  gods. 
He  strutted  along  in  white  breeches,  voluminous 
white  frock-coat,  white  shoes,  and  black  silk  hat, 
the  centre  of  attention. 

Early  in  the  morning  there  was  a  great  scene  in 
the  palace.  The  Imperial  Hair-cutter  was  in  at- 
tendance. A  group  of  old  Court  officials  hung 
around  the  Emperor.  With  blanched  faces  and 
shaking  voices  they  implored  him  not  to  abandon 
the  old  ways.  The  Emperor  paused,  fearful. 
What  power  would  be  filched  from  him  by  the 
shearing  of  his  locks?  But  there  could  be  no  hesi- 
tating now.  Resolute  men  were  behind  who  knew 
what  they  were  going  to  see  done.  A  few  minutes 
later  the  great  step  was  taken. 

The  Residency-General  arranged  the  coronation 
ceremony  in  such  a  manner  as  to  include  as  many 
Japanese  and  to  exclude  as  many  foreigners  as 
possible.  There  were  nearly  a  hundred  Japanese 
present,  including  the  Mayor  of  the  Japanese  settle- 
ment and  the  Buddhist  priest.  There  were  only 
six  white  men — five  Consuls-General  and  Bishop 
Turner,  chief  of  the  Anglican  Church  in  Korea. 
The  Japanese  came  arrayed  in  splendid  uniforms. 
It  was  part  of  the  new  Japanese  policy  to  attire 
even  the  most  minor  officials  in  sumptuous  Court 


THE  ABDICATION  OP  YI  HYEUNG        129 

dress,  with  much  gold  lace  and  many  orders.  This 
enabled  Japan  to  make  a  brilliant  show  in  official 
ceremonies,  a  thing  not  without  effect  in  Oriental 
Courts. 

Shortly  before  ten  o'clock  the  guests  assembled 
in  the  throne-room  of  the  palace,  a  modern  apart- 
ment with  a  raised  dais  at  one  end.  There  were 
Koreans  to  the  left  and  Japanese  to  the  right  of  the 
Emperor,  with  the  Cabinet  in  the  front  line  on  one 
side  and  the  Residency-General  officials  on  the 
other.     The  foreigners  faced  the  raised  platform. 

The  new  Emperor  appeared,  borne  to  the  plat- 
form by  the  Lord  Chamberlain  and  the  Master  of 
the  Household.  He  was  dressed  in  the  ancient 
costume  of  his  people,  a  flowing  blue  garment 
reaching  to  the  ankles,  with  a  robe  of  softer  cream 
colour  underneath.  On  his  head  was  a  quaint 
Korean  hat,  with  a  circle  of  Korean  ornaments 
hanging  from  its  high,  outstanding  horsehair  brim. 
On  his  chest  was  a  small  decorative  breastplate. 
Tall,  clumsily  built,  awkward,  and  vacant-looking — 
such  was  the  Emperor. 

In  ancient  days  all  would  have  kow-towed  before 
him,  and  would  have  beaten  their  foreheads  on  the 
ground.  Now  no  man  did  more  than  bow,  save 
one  Court  herald,  who  knelt.  Weird  Korean  music 
started  in  the  background,  the  beating  of  drums  and 
the  playing  of  melancholy  wind  instruments.  The 
Master  of  Ceremonies  struck  up  a  chant,  which 
hidden  choristers  continued.  Amid  silence,  the 
Prime  Minister,  in  smart  modern  attire,  advanced 


130  KOBEA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FEEEDOM 

and  read  a  paper  of  welcome.  The  Emperor  stood 
still,  apparently  the  least  interested  man  in  the 
room.    He  did  not  even  look  bored — simply  vacant. 

After  this  there  was  a  pause  in  the  proceedings. 
The  Emperor  retired  and  the  guests  went  into  the 
anterooms.  Soon  all  were  recalled,  and  the  Em- 
peror reappeared.  There  had  been  a  quick  change 
in  the  meantime.  He  was  now  wearing  his  new 
modern  uniform,  as  Generalissimo  of  the  Korean 
Army.  Two  high  decorations — one,  if  I  mistake 
not,  from  the  Emperor  of  Japan — hung  on  his 
breast.  He  looked  much  more  manly  in  his  new 
attire.  In  front  of  him  was  placed  his  new  head- 
dress, a  peaked  cap  with  a  fine  plume  sticking  up 
straight  in  front.  The  music  now  was  no  longer 
the  ancient  Korean,  but  modern  airs  from  the  very 
fine  European-trained  band  attached  to  the  palace. 
The  Korean  players  had  gone,  with  the  old  dress 
and  the  old  life,  into  limbo. 

The  Japanese  Acting  Resident-General  and  mili- 
tary commander,  General  Baron  Hasegawa,  strong 
and  masterful-looking,  stepped  to  the  front  with  a 
message  of  welcome  from  his  Emperor.  He  was 
followed  by  the  doyen  of  the  Consular  Corps,  M. 
Vincart,  with  the  Consular  greetings.  This  Con- 
sular message  had  been  very  carefully  sub-edited, 
and  all  expressions  implying  that  the  Governments 
of  the  different  representatives  approved  of  the  pro- 
ceedings had  been  eliminated.  Then  the  corona- 
tion was  over. 

Two  figures  were  conspicuous  by  their  absence. 


THE  ABDICATION  OF  YI  HYEUNG        131 

The  ex-Emperor  was  not  present.  According  to 
the  official  explanation,  he  was  unable  to  attend 
because  "  his  uniform  had  not  been  finished  in 
time."  Really,  as  all  men  knew,  he  was  sitting  re- 
sentful and  protesting  within  a  few  score  yards  of 
the  spot  where  his  son  was  crowned. 

The  second  absent  figure  was  the  Russian  Con- 
sul-General, M.  de  Plangon.  It  was  announced 
that  M.  de  Plangon  was  late,  and  so  could  not  at- 
tend. Seeing  that  M.  de  Plangon  lived  not  ten 
minutes'  walk  from  the  palace,  and  that  the  guests 
had  to  wait  nearly  an  hour  after  the  time  announced 
before  the  ceremony  began,  he  must  have  over- 
slept very  much  indeed  on  that  particular  morning. 
Oddly  enough,  M.  de  Plangon  is  usually  an  early 
riser. 


VIII 
A  JOURNEY  TO  THE  "  RIGHTEOUS  ARMY  " 

IT  was  in  the  autumn  of  1906.  The  Korean 
Emperor  had  been  deposed  and  his  army  dis- 
banded. The  people  of  Seoul,  sullen,  resent- 
ful, yet  powerless,  victims  of  the  apathy  and  folly 
of  their  sires,  and  of  their  own  indolence,  saw  their 
national  existence  filched  from  them,  and  scarce 
dared  utter  a  protest.  The  triumphant  Japanese 
soldiers  stood  at  the  city  gates  and  within  the  pal- 
ace. Princes  must  obey  their  slightest  wish,  even 
to  the  cutting  of  their  hair  and  the  fashioning  of 
their  clothes.  General  Hasegawa's  guns  com- 
manded every  street,  and  all  men  dressed  in  white 
need  walk  softly. 

But  it  soon  became  clear  that  there  were  men 
who  had  not  taken  the  filching  of  their  national  in- 
dependence lightly.  Refugees  from  distant  vil- 
lages, creeping  after  nightfall  over  the  city  wall, 
brought  with  them  marvellous  tales  of  the  happen- 
ings in  the  provinces.  District  after  district,  they 
said,  had  risen  against  the  Japanese.  A  "  Right- 
eous Army "  had  been  formed,  and  was  accom- 
plishing amazing  things.  Detachments  of  Japanese 
had  been  annihilated  and  others  driven  back. 
Sometimes  the  Japanese,  it  is  true,  were  victorious, 

132 


A  JOURNEY  TO  THE  M  EIGHTEOUS  AEMY  »    133 

and  then  they  took  bitter  vengeance,  destroying  a 
whole  countryside  and  slaughtering  the  people  in 
wholesale  fashion.     So  the  refugees  said. 

How  far  were  these  stories  true?  I  am  bound 
to  say  that  I,  for  one,  regarded  them  with  much 
scepticism.  Familiar  as  I  was  with  the  offences  of 
individual  Japanese  in  the  country,  it  seemed  im- 
possible that  outrages  could  be  carried  on  sys- 
tematically by  the  Japanese  Army  under  the  direc- 
tion of  its  officers.  I  was  with  a  Japanese  army 
during  the  war  against  Russia,  and  had  marked 
and  admired  the  restraint  and  discipline  of  the  men 
of  all  ranks  there.  They  neither  stole  nor  out- 
raged. Still  more  recently  I  had  noted  the  action 
of  the  Japanese  soldiers  when  repressing  the  upris- 
ing in  Seoul  itself.  Yet,  whether  the  stories  of  tbe 
refugees  were  true  or  false,  undeniably  some  inter- 
esting fighting  was  going  on. 

By  the  first  week  in  September  it  was  clear  that 
the  area  of  trouble  covered  the  eastern  provinces 
from  near  Fusan  to  the  north  of  Seoul.  The  rebels 
were  evidently  mainly  composed  of  discharged  sol- 
diers and  of  hunters  from  the  hills.  We  heard  in 
Seoul  that  trained  officers  of  the  old  Korean  Army 
were  drilling  and  organizing  them  into  volunteer 
companies.  The  Japanese  were  pouring  fresh 
troops  into  these  centres  of  trouble,  but  the  rebels, 
by  an  elaborate  system  of  mountain-top  signalling, 
were  avoiding  the  troops  and  making  their  attacks 
on  undefended  spots.  Reports  showed  that  they 
were   badly   armed   and   lacked   ammunition,   and 


134  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

there  seemed  to  be  no  effective  organization  for 
sending  them  weapons  from  the  outside. 

The  first  rallying-place  of  the  malcontent  Koreans 
was  in  a  mountain  district  from  eighty  to  ninety 
miles  east  of  Seoul.  Here  lived  many  famous 
Korean  tiger-hunters.  These  banded  themselves 
together  under  the  title  of  Eui-pyung  (the  "  Right- 
eous Army").  They  had  conflicts  with  small 
parties  of  Japanese  troops  and  secured  some  minor 
successes.  When  considerable  Japanese  reinforce- 
ments arrived  they  retired  to  some  mountain  passes 
further  back. 

The  tiger-hunters,  sons  of  the  hills,  iron-nerved, 
and  operating  in  their  own  country,  were  naturally 
awkward  antagonists  even  for  the  best  regular 
troops.  They  were  probably  amongst  the  boldest 
sportsmen  in  the  world,  and  they  formed  the  most 
picturesque  and  romantic  section  of  the  rebels. 
Their  only  weapon  was  an  old-fashioned  percussion 
gun,  with  long  barrel  and  a  brass  trigger  seven  to 
eight  inches  in  length.  Many  of  them  fired  not  from 
the  shoulder,  but  from  the  hip.  They  never  missed. 
They  could  only  fire  one  charge  in  an  attack,  owing 
to  the  time  required  to  load.  They  were  trained  to 
stalk  the  tiger,  to  come  quite  close  to  it,  and  then  to 
kill  it  at  one  shot.  The  man  who  failed  once  died; 
the  tiger  attended  to  that. 

Some  of  the  stories  of  Korean  successes  reaching 
Seoul  were  at  the  best  improbable.  The  tale  of 
one  fight,  however,  came  to  me  through  so  many 
different  and  independent  sources  that  there  was 


A  JOWRNEY  TO  THE  "  EIGHTEOUS  ABMY  »    135 

reason  to  suspect  it  had  substantial  foundation.  It 
recalled  the  doings  of  the  people  of  the  Tyrol  in 
their  struggle  against  Napoleon.  A  party  of  Japa- 
nese soldiers,  forty-eight  in  number,  were  guarding 
a  quantity  of  supplies  from  point  to  point.  The 
Koreans  prepared  an  ambuscade  in  a  mountain  val- 
ley overshadowed  by  precipitous  hills  on  either  side. 
When  the  troops  reached  the  centre  of  the  valley 
they  were  overwhelmed  by  a  flight  of  great  boulders 
rolled  on  them  from  the  hilltops,  and  before  the 
survivors  could  rally  a  host  of  Koreans  rushed  upon 
them  and  did  them  to  death. 

Proclamations  by  Koreans  were  smuggled  into 
the  capital.  Parties  of  Japanese  troops  were  con- 
stantly leaving  Chinkokai,  the  Japanese  quarter  in 
Seoul,  for  the  provinces.  There  came  a  public 
notice  from  General  Hasegawa  himself,  which 
showed  the  real  gravity  of  the  rural  situation.  It 
ran  as  follows: — 

"  I,  General  Baron  Yoshimichi  Hasegawa,  Commander 
of  the  Army  of  Occupation  in  Korea,  make  the  follow- 
ing announcement  to  each  and  every  one  of  the  people 
of  Korea  throughout  all  the  provinces.  Taught  by  the 
natural  trend  of  affairs  in  the  world  and  impelled  by 
the  national  need  of  political  regeneration,  the  Govern- 
ment of  Korea,  in  obedience  to  His  Imperial  Majesty's 
wishes,  is  now  engaged  in  the  task  of  reorganizing  the 
various  institutions  of  State.  But  those  who  are  igno- 
rant of  the  march  of  events  in  the  world  and  who  fail 
correctly  to  distinguish  loyalty  from  treason  have  by 
wild  and  baseless  rumours  instigated  people's  minds  and 
caused  the  rowdies  in  various  places  to  rise  in  insurrection. 
These  insurgents  commit  all  sorts  of  horrible  crimes,  such 
as  murdering  peaceful  people,  both  native  and  foreign, 


136  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

robbing  their  property,  burning  official  and  private  build- 
ings, and  destroying  means  of  communication.  Their 
offences  are  such  as  are  not  tolerated  by  Heaven  or 
earth.  They  affect  to  be  loyal  and  patriotic  and  call 
themselves  volunteers.  But  none  the  less  they  are  law- 
breakers, who  oppose  their  Sovereign's  wishes  concern- 
ing political  regeneration  and  who  work  the  worst  pos- 
sible harm  to  their  country  and  people. 

"  Unless  they  are  promptly  suppressed  the  trouble  may 
assume  really  calamitous  proportions.  I  am  charged  by 
His  Majesty,  the  Emperor  of  Korea,  with  the  task  of 
rescuing  you  from  such  disasters  by  thoroughly  stamp- 
ing out  the  insurrection.  I  charge  all  of  you,  law-abiding 
people  of  Korea,  to  prosecute  your  respective  peaceful 
avocations  and  be  troubled  with  no  fears.  As  for  those 
who  have  joined  the  insurgents  from  mistaken  motives, 
if  they  honestly  repent  and  promptly  surrender  they  will 
be  pardoned  of  their  offence.  Any  of  you  who  will  seize 
insurgents  or  will  give  information  concerning  their 
whereabouts  will  be  handsomely  rewarded.  In  case  of 
those  who  wilfully  join  insurgents,  or  afford  them  refuge, 
or  conceal  weapons,  they  shall  be  severely  punished. 
More  than  that,  the  villages  to  which  such  offenders  be- 
long shall  be  held  collectively  responsible  and  punished 
with  rigour.  I  call  upon  each  and  every  one  of  the  people 
of  Korea  to  understand  clearly  what  I  have  herewith  said 
to  you  and  avoid  all  reprehensible  action." 

The  Koreans  in  America  circulated  a  manifesto 
directed  against  those  of  their  countrymen  who 
were  working  with  Japan,  under  the  expressive  title 
of  "  explosive  thunder,"  which  breathed  fury  and 
vengeance.  Groups  of  Koreans  in  the  provinces 
issued  other  statements  which,  if  not  quite  so  pic- 
turesque, were  quite  forcible  enough.  Here  is 
one: — 

"  Our  numbers  are  twenty  million,  and  we  have  over 


A  JOUENEY  TO  THE  "  EIGHTEOUS  AEMY  »    137 

ten  million  strong  men,  excluding  old,  sick,  and  children. 
Now,  the  Japanese  soldiers  in  Korea  are  not  more  than 
eight  thousand,  and  Japanese  merchants  at  various  places 
are  not  more  than  some  thousands.  Though  their  weap- 
ons are  sharp,  how  can  one  man  kill  a  thousand?  We 
beg  you  our  brothers  not  to  act  in  a  foolish  way  and  not 
to  kill  any  innocent  persons.  We  will  fix  the  day  and  the 
hour  for  you  to  strike.  Some  of  us,  disguised  as  beggars 
and  merchants,  will  go  into  Seoul.  We  will  destroy  the 
railway,  we  will  kindle  flames  in  every  port,  we  will 
destroy  Chinkokai,  kill  Ito  and  all  the  Japanese,  Yi  Wan- 
yong  and  his  underlings,  and  will  not  leave  a  single  rebel 
against  our  Emperor  alive.  Then  Japan  will  bring  out 
all  her  troops  to  fight  us.  We  have  no  weapons  at  our 
hands,  but  we  will  keep  our  own  patriotism.  We  may 
not  be  able  to  fight  against  the  sharp  weapons  of  the 
Japanese,  but  we  will  ask  the  Foreign  Consuls  to  help 
us  with  their  troops,  and  maybe  they  will  assist  the  right 
persons  and  destroy  the  wicked;  otherwise  let  us  die. 
Let  us  strike  against  Japan,  and  then,  if  must  be,  all  die 
together  with  our  country  and  with  our  Emperor,  for 
there  is  no  other  course  open  to  us.  It  is  better  to  lose 
our  lives  now  than  to  live  miserably  a  little  time  longer, 
for  the  Emperor  and  our  brothers  will  all  surely  be  killed 
by  the  abominable  plans  of  Ito,  Yi  Wan-vong,  and  their 
associates.  It  is  better  to  die  as  a  patriot  than  to  live 
having  abandoned  one's  country.  Mr.  Yi  Chun  went  to 
foreign  lands  to  plead  for  our  country,  and  his  plans  did 
not  carry  well,  so  he  cut  his  stomach  asunder  with  a 
sword  and  poured  out  his  blood  among  the  foreign  na- 
tions to  proclaim  his  patriotism  to  the  world.  These  of 
our  twenty  million  people  who  do  not  unite  offend  against 
the  memory  of  Mr.  Yi  Chun.  We  have  to  choose  be- 
tween destruction  or  the  maintenance  of  our  country. 
Whether  we  live  or  die  is  a  small  thing,  the  great  thing 
is  that  we  make  up  our  minds  at  once  whether  we  work 
for  or  against  our  country." 

A  group  of  Koreans  in  the  southern  provinces 
petitioned  Prince  Ito,  in  the  frankest  fashion : — 


138  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

"  You  spoke  much  of  the  kindness  and  friendship  be- 
tween Japan  and  Korea,  but  actually  you  have  drawn 
away  the  profits  from  province  after  province  and  dis- 
trict after  district  until  nothing  is  left  wherever  the  hand 
of  the  Japanese  falls.  The  Korean  has  been  brought  to 
ruin,  and  the  Japanese  shall  be  made  to  follow  him  down- 
wards. We  pity  you  very  much ;  but  you  shall  not  enjoy 
the  profits  of  the  ruin  of  our  land.  When  Japan  and 
Korea  fall  together  it  will  be  a  misfortune  indeed  for  you. 
If  you  would  secure  safety  for  yourself  follow  this  rule : 
memorialize  our  Majesty  to  impeach  the  traitors  and  put 
them  to  right  punishment.  Then  every  Korean  will  re- 
gard you  with  favour,  and  the  Europeans  will  be  loud  in 
your  praise.  Advise  the  Korean  authorities  to  carry  out 
reforms  in  various  directions,  help  them  to  enlarge  the 
schools,  and  to  select  capable  men  for  the  Government 
service;  then  the  three  countries,  Korea,  China,  and 
Japan,  shall  stand  in  the  same  line,  strongly  united  and 
esteemed  by  foreign  nations.  If  you  will  not  do  this,  and 
if  you  continue  to  encroach  on  our  rights,  then  we  will 
be  destroyed  together,  thanks  to  you. 

"  You  thought  there  were  no  men  left  in  Korea ;  you 
will  see.  We  country  people  are  resolved  to  destroy 
your  railways  and  your  settlements  and  your  authorities. 
On  a  fixed  day  we  shall  send  word  to  our  patriots  in  the 
north,  in  the  south,  in  Pyeng-yang  and  Kyung  Sang,  to 
rise  and  drive  away  all  Japanese  from  the  various  ports, 
and  although  your  soldiers  are  skillful  with  their  guns  it 
will  be  very  hard  for  them  to  stand  against  our  twenty 
million  people.  We  will  first  attack  the  Japanese  in 
Korea,  but  when  we  have  finished  them  we  will  appeal 
to  the  Foreign  Powers  to  assure  the  independence  and 
freedom  of  our  country.  Before  we  send  the  word  to 
our  fellow-countrymen  we  give  you  this  advice." 

I  resolved  to  try  to  see  the  fighting.  This,  I 
soon  found,  was  easier  attempted  than  done. 

The  first  difficulty  came  from  the  Japanese 
authorities.     They  refused  to  grant  me  a  passport, 


A  JOUBKEY  TO  THE  "  KIGHTEOUS  AEMY  w    139 

declaring  that,  owing  to  the  disturbances,  they 
could  not  guarantee  my  safety  in  the  interior.  An 
interview  followed  at  the  Residency-General,  in 
which  I  was  duly  warned  that  if  I  travelled  with- 
out a  passport  I  would  be  liable,  under  International 
treaties,  to  "  arrest  at  any  point  on  the  journey 
and  punishment." 

This  did  not  trouble  me  very  much.  My  real 
fear  had  been  that  the  Japanese  would  consent  to 
my  going,  but  would  insist  on  sending  a  guard  of 
Japanese  soldiers  with  me.  It  was  more  than 
doubtful  if,  at  that  time,  the  Japanese  had  any  right 
to  stop  a  foreigner  from  travelling  in  Korea,  for  the 
passport  regulations  had  long  been  virtually  ob- 
solete. This  was  a  point  that  I  was  prepared  to 
argue  out  at  leisure  after  my  arrest  and  confine- 
ment in  a  Consular  jail.  So  the  preparations  for 
my  departure  were  continued. 

The  traveller  in  Korea,  away  from  the  railroads, 
must  carry  everything  he  wants  with  him,  except 
food  for  his  horses.  He  must  have  at  least  three 
horses  or  ponies:  one  for  himself,  one  pack-pony, 
and  one  for  his  bedding  and  his  "  boy."  Each  pony 
needs  its  own  "  mafoo,"  or  groom,  to  cook  its  food 
and  to  attend  to  it.  So,  although  travelling  lightly 
and  in  a  hurry,  I  would  be  obliged  to  take  two 
horses,  one  pony,  and  four  attendants  with  me. 

My  friends  in  Seoul,  both  white  and  Korean, 
were  of  opinion  that  if  I  attempted  the  trip  I  would 
probably  never  return.  Korean  tiger-hunters  and 
disbanded  soldiers  were  scattered  about  the  hills, 


140  KOBEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FREEDOM 

waiting  for  the  chance  of  pot-shots  at  passing  Japa- 
nese. They  would  certainly  in  the  distance  take 
me  for  a  Japanese,  since  the  Japanese  soldiers  and 
leaders  all  wear  foreign  clothes,  and  they  would 
make  me  their  target  before  they  found  out  their 
mistake.  A  score  of  suggestions  were  proffered  as 
to  how  I  should  avoid  this.  One  old  servant  of 
mine  begged  me  to  travel  in  a  native  chair,  like  a 
Korean  gentleman.  This  chair  is  a  kind  of  small 
box,  carried  by  two  or  four  bearers,  in  which  the 
traveller  sits  all  the  time  crouched  up  on  his 
haunches.  Its  average  speed  is  less  than  two  miles 
an  hour.  I  preferred  the  bullets.  A  member  of 
the  Korean  Court  urged  me  to  send  out  messengers 
each  night  to  the  villages  where  I  would  be  going 
next  day,  telling  the  people  that  I  was  "  Yong  guk 
ta-in  "  (Englishman)  and  so  they  must  not  shoot 
me.     And  so  on  and  so  forth. 

This  exaggerated  idea  of  the  risks  of  the  trip 
unfortunately  spread  abroad.  The  horse  merchant 
demanded  specially  high  terms  for  the  hire  of  his 
beasts,  because  he  might  never  see  them  again.  I 
needed  a  "  boy,"  or  native  servant,  and  although 
there  are  plenty  of  "  boys  "  in  Seoul  none  at  first 
was  to  be  had. 

I  engaged  one  servant,  a  fine  upstanding  young 
Korean,  Wo  by  name,  who  had  been  out  on  many 
hunting  and  mining  expeditions.  I  noticed  that  he 
was  looking  uneasy,  and  I  was  scarcely  surprised 
when  at  the  end  of  the  third  day  he  came  to  me 
with    downcast    eyes.     "  Master,"    he    said,    "  my 


A  JOURNEY  TO  THE  "  RIGHTEOUS  ARMY  »   141 

heart  is  very  much  frightened.  Please  excuse  me 
this  time." 

"What  is  there  to  be  frightened  about?"  I  de- 
manded. 

"  Korean  men  will  shoot  you  and  then  will  kill 
me  because  my  hair  is  cut."  The  rebels  were  re- 
ported to  be  killing  all  men  not  wearing  topknots. 

Exit  Wo.  Some  one  recommended  Han,  also 
with  a  great  hunting  record.  But  when  Han  heard 
the  destination  he  promptly  withdrew.  Sin  was  a 
good  boy  out  of  place.  Sin  was  sent  for,  but  for- 
warded apologies  for  not  coming. 

One  Korean  was  longing  to  accompany  me — my 
old  servant  in  the  war,  Kim  Min-gun.  But  Kim 
was  in  permanent  employment  and  could  not  ob- 
tain leave.  "  Master,"  he  said  contemptuously, 
when  he  heard  of  the  refusals,  "  these  men  plenty 
much  afraid."  At  last  Kim's  master  very  kindly 
gave  him  permission  to  accompany  me,  and  the 
servant  difficulty  was  surmounted. 

My  preparations  were  now  almost  completed, 
provisions  bought,  horses  hired,  and  saddles  over- 
hauled. The  Japanese  authorities  had  made  no 
sign,  but  they  knew  what  was  going  on.  It  seemed 
likely  that  they  would  stop  me  when  I  started  out. 

Then  fortune  favoured  me.  A  cablegram  arrived 
for  me  from  London.     It  was  brief  and  emphatic : — 

"  Proceed  forthwith  Siberia." 

My   expedition  was  abandoned,   the  horses  sent 


142  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FREEDOM 

away,  and  the  saddles  thrown  into  a  corner.  I 
cabled  home  that  I  would  soon  be  back.  I  made 
the  hotel  ring  with  my  public  and  private  com- 
plaints about  this  interference  with  my  plans.  I 
visited  the  shipping  offices  to  learn  of  the  next 
steamer  to  Vladivostock. 

A  few  hours  before  I  was  to  start  I  chanced  to 
meet  an  old  friend,  who  questioned  me  confi- 
dentially, "  I  suppose  it  is  really  true  that  you  are 
going  away,  and  that  this  is  not  a  trick  on  your 
part?"  I  left  him  thoughtful,  for  his  words  had 
shown  me  the  splendid  opportunity  in  my  hands. 
Early  next  morning,  long  before  dawn,  my  ponies 
came  back,  the  boys  assembled,  the  saddles  were 
quickly  fixed  and  the  packs  adjusted,  and  soon  we 
were  riding  as  hard  as  we  could  for  the  mountains. 
The  regrettable  part  of  the  affair  is  that  many 
people  are  still  convinced  that  the  whole  business 
of  the  cablegram  was  arranged  by  me  in  advance 
as  a  blind,  and  no  assurances  of  mine  will  convince 
them  to  the  contrary. 

As  in  duty  bound,  I  sent  word  to  the  acting 
British  Consul-General,  telling  him  of  my  de- 
parture. My  letter  was  not  delivered  to  him  until 
after  I  had  left.  On  my  return  I  found  his  reply 
awaiting  me  at  my  hotel. 

"  I  consider  it  my  duty  to  inform  you,"  he  wrote,  "  that 
I  received  a  communication  on  the  7th  inst.  from  the 
Residency-General  informing  me  that,  in  view  of  the 
disturbed  conditions  in  the  interior,  it  is  deemed  inad- 
visable that  foreign  subjects  should  be  allowed  to  travel 
in  the  disturbed  districts  for  the  present.    I  would  also 


A  JOUENEY  TO  THE  "  BIGHTEOUS  AEMY  **  143 

call  your  attention  to  the  stipulation  in  Article  V.  of  the 
treaty  between  Great  Britain  and  Korea,  under  which 
British  subjects  travelling  in  the  interior  of  the  country 
without  a  passport  are  liable  to  arrest  and  to  a  penalty." 

In  Seoul  no  one  could  tell  where  or  how  the 
"  Righteous  Army  "  might  be  found.  The  informa- 
tion doled  out  by  the  Japanese  authorities  was 
fragmentary,  and  was  obviously  and  naturally 
framed  in  such  a  manner  as  to  minimize  and  dis- 
credit the  disturbances.  It  was  admitted  that  the 
Korean  volunteers  had  a  day  or  two  earlier  des- 
troyed a  small  railway  station  on  the  line  to  Fusan. 
We  knew  that  a  small  party  of  them  had  attacked 
the  Japanese  guard  of  a  store  of  rifles,  not  twenty 
miles  from  the  capital,  and  had  driven  them  off  and 
captured  the  arms  and  ammunition.  Most  of  the 
fighting,  so  far  as  one  could  judge,  appeared  to  have 
been  around  the  town  of  Chung-ju,  four  days' 
journey  from  Seoul.  It  was  for  there  I  aimed, 
travelling  by  an  indirect  bridle-path  in  order  to 
avoid  the  Japanese  as  far  as  possible. 

The  country  in  which  I  soon  found  myself  pre- 
sented a  field  of  industry  and  of  prosperity  such  as 
I  had  seen  nowhere  else  in  Korea.  Between  the 
somewhat  desolate  mountain  ranges  and  great 
stretches  of  sandy  soil  we  came  upon  innumerable 
thriving  villages.  Every  possible  bit  of  land,  right 
up  the  hillsides,  was  carefully  cultivated.  Here 
were  stretches  of  cotton,  with  bursting  pods  all 
ready  for  picking,  and  here  great  fields  of  buck- 
wheat white  with  flower.     The  two  most  common 


144  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

crops  were  rice  and  barley,  and  the  fields  were 
heavy  with  their  harvest.  Near  the  villages  were 
ornamental  lines  of  chilies  and  beans  and  seed 
plants  for  oil,  with  occasional  clusters  of  kowliang, 
fully  twelve  and  thirteen  feet  high. 

In  the  centre  of  the  fields  was  a  double-storied 
summer-house,  made  of  straw,  the  centre  of  a  sys- 
tem of  high  ropes,  decked  with  bits  of  rag,  running 
over  the  crops  in  all  directions.  Two  lads  would 
sit  on  the  upper  floor  of  each  of  these  houses,  pull- 
ing the  ropes,  flapping  the  rags,  and  making  all 
kinds  of  harsh  noises,  to  frighten  away  the  birds 
preying  on  the  crops. 

The  villages  themselves  were  pictures  of  beauty 
and  of  peace.  Most  of  them  were  surrounded  by  a 
high  fence  of  wands  and  matting.  At  the  entrance 
there  sometimes  stood  the  village  "  joss,"  although 
many  villages  had  destroyed  their  idols.  This 
"  joss  "  was  a  thick  stake  of  wood,  six  or  eight  feet 
high,  with  the  upper  part  roughly  carved  into  the 
shape  of  a  very  ugly  human  face,  and  crudely 
coloured  in  vermilion  and  green.  It  was  supposed 
to  frighten  away  the  evil  spirits. 

The  village  houses,  low,  mud-walled,  and  thatch- 
roofed,  were  seen  this  season  at  their  best.  Gay 
flowers  grew  around.  Melons  and  pumpkins, 
weighted  with  fruit,  ran  over  the  walls.  Nearly 
every  roof  displayed  a  patch  of  vivid  scarlet,  for  the 
chilies  had  just  been  gathered,  and  were  spread 
out  on  the  housetops  to  dry.  In  front  of  the 
houses  were  boards  covered  with  sliced  pumpkins 


A  JOTJBNEY  TO  THE  "  BIGHTEOUS  AEMY »  146 

and  gherkins  drying  in  the  sun  for  winter  use. 
Every  courtyard  had  its  line  of  black  earthenware 
jars,  four  to  six  feet  high,  stored  with  all  manner 
of  good  things,  mostly  preserved  vegetables  of 
many  varieties,  for  the  coming  year. 

I  had  heard  much  of  the  province  of  Chung- 
Chong-Do  as  the  Italy  of  Korea,  but  its  beauty  and 
prosperity  required  seeing  to  be  believed.  It  af- 
forded an  amazing  contrast  to  the  dirt  and  apathy 
of  Seoul.  Here  every  one  worked.  In  the  fields 
the  young  women  were  toiling  in  groups,  weeding 
or  harvesting.  The  young  men  were  cutting 
bushes  on  the  hillsides,  the  father  of  the  family  pre- 
paring new  ground  for  the  fresh  crop,  and  the  very 
children  frightening  off  the  birds.  At  home  the 
housewife  was  busy  with  her  children  and  prepar- 
ing her  simples  and  stores;  and  even  the  old  men 
busied  themselves  over  light  tasks,  such  as  mat- 
making.  Every  one  seemed  prosperous,  busy,  and 
happy.  There  were  no  signs  of  poverty.  The  up- 
rising had  not  touched  this  district,  save  in  the  most 
incidental  fashion. 

My  inquiries  as  to  where  I  should  find  any  signs 
of  the  fighting  always  met  with  the  same  reply — 
"  The  Japanese  have  been  to  Ichon,  and  have 
burned  many  villages  there."  So  we  pushed  on  for 
Ichon  as  hard  as  we  could. 

The  chief  problem  that  faced  the  traveller  in 
Korea  who  ventured  away  from  the  railways  in 
those  days  was  how  to  hasten  the  speed  of  his 
party.     "  You  cannot  travel  faster  than  your  pack," 


146  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

is  one  of  those  indisputable  axioms  against  which 
the  impatient  man  fretted  in  vain.  The  pack-pony 
was  led  by  a  horseman,  who  really  controlled  the 
situation.  If  he  sulked  and  determined  to  go 
slowly  nothing  could  be  done.  If  he  hurried,  the 
whole  party  must  move  quickly. 

The  Korean  mafoo  regards  seventy  li  (about 
twenty-one  miles)  as  a  fair  day's  work.  He  prefers 
to  average  sixty  li,  but  if  you  are  very  insistent  he 
may  go  eighty.  It  was  imperative  that  I  should 
cover  from  a  hundred  to  a  hundred  and  twenty  li 
a  day. 

I  tried  a  mixture  of  harsh  words,  praise,  and 
liberal  tips.  I  was  up  at  three  in  the  morning, 
setting  the  boys  to  work  at  cooking  the  animals' 
food,  and  I  kept  them  on  the  road  until  dark.  Still 
the  record  was  not  satisfactory.  It  is  necessary  in 
Korea  to  allow  at  least  six  hours  each  day  for  the 
cooking  of  the  horses'  food  and  feeding  them.  This 
is  a  time  that  no  wise  traveller  attempts  to  cut. 
Including  feeding-times,  we  were  on  the  go  from 
sixteen  to  eighteen  hours  a  day.  Notwithstanding 
this,  the  most  we  had  reached  was  a  hundred  and 
ten  li  a  day. 

Then  came  a  series  of  little  hindrances.  The 
pack-pony  would  not  eat  its  dinner;  its  load  was 
too  heavy.  "  Hire  a  boy  to  carry  part  of  its  load," 
I  replied.  A  hundred  reasons  would  be  found  for 
halting,  and  still  more  for  slow  departure. 

It  was  clear  that  something  more  must  be  done. 
I  called  the  pack-pony  leader  on  one  side.     He  was 


A  JOUENEY  TO  THE  "  KIGHTEOUS  AEMY  »    147 

a  fine,  broad-framed  giant,  a  man  who  had  in  his 
time  gone  through  many  fights  and  adventures. 
"  You  and  I  understand  one  another,"  I  said  to  him. 
"  These  others  with  their  moanings  and  cries  are 
but  as  children.  Now  let  us  make  a  compact.  You 
hurry  all  the  time  and  I  will  give  you  "  (here  I 
whispered  a  figure  into  his  ear  that  sent  a  gratified 
smile  over  his  face)  "  at  the  end  of  the  journey. 
The  others  need  know  nothing.  This  is  between 
men." 

He  nodded  assent.  From  that  moment  the  trou- 
ble was  over.  Footsore  mafoos,  lame  horses, 
grumbling  innkeepers — nothing  mattered.  "  Let 
the  fires  burn  quickly."  "  Out  with  the  horses." 
The  other  horse-keepers,  not  understanding  his 
changed  attitude,  toiled  wearily  after  him.  At 
night-time  he  would  look  up,  as  he  led  his  pack- 
pony  in  at  the  end  of  a  record  day,  and  his  grim 
smile  would  proclaim  that  he  was  keeping  his  end 
of  the  bargain. 

"  It  is  necessary  for  us  to  show  these  men  some- 
thing of  the  strong  hand  of  Japan,"  one  of  the  lead- 
ing Japanese  in  Seoul,  a  close  associate  of  the 
Prince  Ito,  told  me  shortly  before  I  left  that  city. 
"  The  people  of  the  eastern  mountain  districts  have 
seen  few  or  no  Japanese  soldiers,  and  they  have  no 
idea  of  our  strength.  We  must  convince  them  how 
strong  we  are." 

As  I  stood  on  a  mountain-pass,  looking  down  on 
the  valley  leading  to  Ichon,  I  recalled  these 
words  of  my  friend.     The  "  strong  hand  of  Japan  " 


148  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

was  certainly  being  shown  here.  I  beheld  in  front 
of  me  village  after  village  reduced  to  ashes. 

I  rode  down  to  the  nearest  heap  of  ruins.  The 
place  had  been  quite  a  large  village,  with  probably 
seventy  or  eighty  houses.  Destruction,  thorough 
and  complete,  had  fallen  upon  it.  Not  a  single 
house  was  left,  and  not  a  single  wall  of  a  house. 
Every  pot  with  the  winter  stores  was  broken.  The 
very  earthen  fireplaces  were  wrecked. 

The  villagers  had  come  back  to  the  ruins  again, 
and  were  already  rebuilding.  They  had  put  up 
temporary  refuges  of  straw.  The  young  men  were 
out  on  the  hills  cutting  wood,  and  every  one  else 
was  toiling  at  house-making.  The  crops  were 
ready  to  harvest,  but  there  was  no  time  to  gather 
them  in.     First  of  all,  make  a  shelter. 

During  the  next  few  days  sights  like  these  were 
to  be  too  common  to  arouse  much  emotion.  But 
for  the  moment  I  looked  around  on  these  people, 
ruined  and  homeless,  with  quick  pity.  The  old 
men,  venerable  and  dignified,  as  Korean  old  men 
mostly  are,  the  young  wives,  many  with  babes  at 
their  breasts,  the  sturdy  men,  had  composed,  if  I 
could  judge  by  what  I  saw,  an  exceptionally  clean 
and  peaceful  community. 

There  was  no  house  in  which  I  could  rest,  so  I 
sat  down  under  a  tree,  and  while  Min-gun  was 
cooking  my  dinner  the  village  elders  came  around 
with  their  story.  One  thing  especially  struck  me. 
Usually  the  Korean  woman  was  shy,  retiring,  and 
afraid  to  open  her  mouth  in  the  presence  of  a 


A  JOURNEY  TO  THE  "  RIGHTEOUS  ARMY  »    149 

stranger.  Here  the  women  spoke  up  as  freely  as 
the  men.  The  great  calamity  had  broken  down  the 
barriers  of  their  silence. 

"  We  are  glad,"  they  said,  "  that  a  European  man 
has  come  to  see  what  has  befallen  us.  We  hope 
you  will  tell  your  people,  so  that  all  men  may 
know. 

"  There  had  been  some  fighting  on  the  hills  be- 
yond our  village,"  and  they  pointed  to  the  hills  a 
mile  or  two  further  on.  "The  Eui-pyung"  (the 
volunteers)  "  had  been  there,  and  had  torn  up  some 
telegraph  poles.  The  Eui-pyung  came  down  from 
the  eastern  hills.  They  were  not  our  men,  and  had 
nothing  to  do  with  us.  The  Japanese  soldiers 
came,  and  there  was  a  fight,  and  the  Eui-pyung 
fell  back. 

"  Then  the  Japanese  soldiers  marched  out  to  our 
village,  and  to  seven  other  villages.  Look  around 
and  you  can  see  the  ruins  of  all.  They  spoke  many 
harsh  words  to  us.  '  The  Eui-pyung  broke  down 
the  telegraph  poles  and  you  did  not  stop  them/ 
they  said.  '  Therefore  you  are  all  the  same  as 
Eui-pyung.  Why  have  you  eyes  if  you  do  not 
watch,  why  have  you  strength  if  you  do  not  prevent 
the  Eui-pyung  from  doing  mischief?  The  Eui- 
pyung  came  to  your  houses  and  you  fed  them. 
They  have  gone,  but  we  will  punish  you.' 

"And  they  went  from  house  to  house,  taking 
what  they  wanted  and  setting  all  alight.  One  old 
man — he  had  lived  in  his  house  since  he  was  a 
babe  suckled  by  his  mother — saw  a  soldier  lighting 


150  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FREEDOM 

up  his  house.  He  fell  on  his  knees  and  caught  the 
foot  of  the  soldier.  *  Excuse  me,  excuse  me,'  he 
said,  with  many  tears.  '  Please  do  not  burn  my 
house.  Leave  it  for  me  that  I  may  die  there.  I 
am  an  old  man,  and  near  my  end.* 

"  The  soldier  tried  to  shake  him  off,  but  the  old 
man  prayed  the  more.  '  Excuse  me,  excuse  me/ 
he  moaned.  Then  the  soldier  lifted  his  gun  and 
shot  the  old  man,  and  we  buried  him. 

"  One  who  was  near  to  her  hour  of  child-birth 
was  lying  in  a  house.  Alas  for  her!  One  of  our 
young  men  was  working  in  the  field  cutting  grass. 
He  was  working  and  had  not  noticed  the  soldiers 
come.  He  lifted  his  knife,  sharpening  it  in  the  sun. 
*  There  is  a  Eui-pyung,'  he  said,  and  he  fired  and 
killed  him.  One  man,  seeing  the  fire,  noticed  that 
all  his  family  records  were  burning.  He  rushed  in 
to  try  and  pull  them  out,  but  as  he  rushed  a  soldier 
fired,  and  he  fell." 

A  man,  whose  appearance  proclaimed  him  to  be 
of  a  higher  class  than  most  of  the  villagers,  then 
spoke  in  bitter  tones.  "  We  are  rebuilding  our 
houses,"  he  said,  "  but  of  what  use  is  it  for  us  to 
do  so?  I  was  a  man  of  family.  My  fathers  and 
fathers'  fathers  had  their  record.  Our  family 
papers  are  destroyed.  Henceforth  we  are  a  people 
without  a  name,  disgraced  and  outcast." 

I  found,  when  I  went  further  into  the  country, 
that  this  view  was  fairly  common.  The  Koreans 
regard  their  family  existence  with  peculiar  venera- 
tion.    The    family    record    means    everything    to 


A  JOURNEY  TO  THE  "  EIGHTEOUS  ARMY  "    151 

them.  When  it  is  destroyed,  the  family  is  wiped 
out.  It  no  longer  exists,  even  though  there  are 
many  members  of  it  still  living.  As  the  province 
of  Chung-Chong-Do  prides  itself  on  the  large  num- 
ber of  its  substantial  families,  there  could  be  no 
more  effective  way  of  striking  at  them  than  this. 

I  rode  out  of  the  village  heavy-hearted.  What 
struck  me  most  about  this  form  of  punishment, 
however,  was  not  the  suffering  of  the  villagers  so 
much  as  the  futility  of  the  proceedings,  from  the 
Japanese  point  of  view.  In  place  of  pacifying  a 
people,  they  were  turning  hundreds  of  quiet  fam- 
ilies into  rebels.  During  the  next  few  days  I  was 
to  see  at  least  one  town  and  many  scores  of  villages 
treated  as  this  one.  To  what  end?  The  villagers 
were  certainly  not  the  people  fighting  the  Japanese. 
All  they  wanted  to  do  was  to  look  quietly  after  their 
own  affairs.  Japan  professed  a  desire  to  conciliate 
Korea  and  to  win  the  affection  and  support  of  her 
people.  In  one  province  at  least  the  policy  of 
house-burning  had  reduced  a  prosperous  com- 
munity to  ruin,  increased  the  rebel  forces,  and 
sown  a  crop  of  bitter  hatred  which  it  would  take 
generations  to  root  out. 

We  rode  on  through  village  after  village  and 
hamlet  after  hamlet  burned  to  the  ground.  The 
very  attitude  of  the  people  told  me  that  the  hand 
of  Japan  had  struck  hard  there.  We  would  come 
upon  a  boy  carrying  a  load  of  wood.  He  would 
run  quickly  to  the  side  of  the  road  when  he  saw  us, 
expecting  he  knew  not  what.     We  passed  a  vil- 


152  KOBEA'S  FIGHT  FOB  FBEEDOM 

lage  with  a  few  houses  left.  The  women  flew  to 
shelter  as  I  drew  near.  Some  of  the  stories  that  I 
heard  later  helped  me  to  understand  why  they 
should  run.  Of  course  they  took  me  for  a  Japa- 
nese. 

All  along  the  route  I  heard  tales  of  the  Japanese 
plundering,  where  they  had  not  destroyed.  At 
places  the  village  elders  would  bring  me  an  old  man 
badly  beaten  by  a  Japanese  soldier  because  he  re- 
sisted being  robbed.  Then  came  darker  stories. 
In  Seoul  I  had  laughed  at  them.  Now,  face  to  face 
with  the  victims,  I  could  laugh  no  more. 

That  afternoon  we  rode  into  Ichon  itself. 
This  is  quite  a  large  town.  I  found  it  practically 
deserted.  Most  of  the  people  had  fled  to  the  hills, 
to  escape  from  the  Japanese.  I  slept  that  night  in 
a  schoolhouse,  now  deserted  and  unused.  There 
were  the  cartoons  and  animal  pictures  and  pious 
mottoes  around,  but  the  children  were  far  away. 
I  passed  through  the  market-place,  usually  a  very 
busy  spot.     There  was  no  sign  of  life  there. 

I  turned  to  some  of  the  Koreans. 

"Where  are  your  women?  Where  are  your 
children  ?"  I  demanded.  They  pointed  to  the 
high  and  barren  hills  looming  against  the  distant 
heavens. 

"  They  are  up  there,"  they  said.  "  Better  for 
them  to  lie  on  the  barren  hillsides  than  to  be  out- 
raged here." 


IX 

WITH  THE  REBELS 

DAY  after  day  we  travelled  through  a  suc- 
cession of  burned-out  villages,  deserted 
towns,  and  forsaken  country.  The  fields 
were  covered  with  a  rich  and  abundant  harvest, 
ready  to  be  gathered,  and  impossible  for  the  in- 
vaders to  destroy.  But  most  of  the  farmers  were 
hiding  on  the  mountainsides,  fearing  to  come  down. 
The  few  courageous  men  who  had  ventured  to 
come  back  were  busy  erecting  temporary  shelters 
for  themselves  before  the  winter  cold  came  on,  and 
had  to  let  the  harvest  wait.  Great  flocks  of  birds 
hung  over  the  crops,  feasting  undisturbed. 

Up  to  Chong-ju  nearly  one-half  of  the  villages 
on  the  direct  line  of  route  had  been  destroyed  by 
the  Japanese.  At  Chong-ju  I  struck  directly  across 
the  mountains  to  Chee-chong,  a  day's  journey. 
Four-fifths  of  the  villages  and  hamlets  on  the  main 
road  between  these  two  places  were  burned  to  the 
ground. 

The  few  people  who  had  returned  to  the  ruins 
always  disclaimed  any  connection  with  the  "  Right- 
eous Army."  They  had  taken  no  part  in  the  fight- 
ing, they  said.  The  volunteers  had  come  down 
from  the  hills  and  had  attacked  the  Japanese;  the 

*53 


154  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

Japanese  had  then  retaliated  by  punishing  the  local 
residents.  The  fact  that  the  villagers  had  no  arms, 
and  were  peaceably  working  at  home-building, 
seemed  at  the  time  to  show  the  truth  of  their 
words.  Afterwards  when  I  came  up  with  the 
Korean  fighters  I  found  these  statements  con- 
firmed. The  rebels  were  mostly  townsmen  from 
Seoul,  and  not  villagers  from  that  district. 

Between  10,000  and  20,000  people  had  been 
driven  to  the  hills  in  this  small  district  alone,  either 
by  the  destruction  of  their  homes  or  because  of 
fear  excited  by  the  acts  of  the  soldiers. 

Soon  after  leaving  Ichon  I  came  on  a  village 
where  the  Red  Cross  was  flying  over  one  of  the 
houses.  The  place  was  a  native  Anglican  church. 
I  was  later  on  to  see  the  Red  Cross  over  many 
houses,  for  the  people  had  the  idea  that  by  thus  ap- 
pealing to  the  Christians'  God  they  made  a  claim  on 
the  pity  and  charity  of  the  Christian  nations. 

In  the  evening,  after  I  had  settled  down  in  the 
yard  of  the  native  inn,  the  elders  of  the  Church 
came  to  see  me,  two  quiet-spoken,  grave,  middle- 
aged  men.  They  were  somewhat  downcast,  and 
said  that  their  village  had  suffered  considerably, 
the  parties  of  soldiers  passing  through  having  taken 
what  they  wanted  and  being  guilty  of  some  out- 
rages. A  gardener's  wife  had  been  violated  by  a 
Japanese  soldier,  another  soldier  standing  guard 
over  the  house  with  rifle  and  fixed  bayonet.  A  boy, 
attracted  by  the  woman's  screams,  ran  and  fetched 
the  husband.     He  came  up,  knife  in  hand.     "  But 


WITH  THE  REBELS  155 

what  could  he  do?  "  the  elders  asked.  "  There  was 
the  soldier,  with  rifle  and  bayonet,  before  the  door." 

Later  on  I  was  to  hear  other  stories,  very  similar 
to  this.  These  tales  were  confirmed  on  the  spot, 
so  far  as  confirmation  was  possible.  In  my  judg- 
ment such  outrages  were  not  numerous,  and  were 
limited  to  exceptional  parties  of  troops.  But  they 
produced  an  effect  altogether  disproportionate  to 
their  numbers.  The  Korean  has  high  ideals  about 
the  sanctity  of  his  women,  and  the  fear  caused  by 
a  comparatively  few  offences  was  largely  respon- 
sible for  the  flight  of  multitudes  to  the  hills. 

In  the  burning  of  villages,  a  certain  number  of 
Korean  women  and  children  were  undoubtedly 
killed.  The  Japanese  troops  seem  in  many  cases 
to  have  rushed  a  village  and  to  have  indulged  in 
miscellaneous  wild  shooting,  on  the  chance  of  there 
being  rebels  around,  before  firing  the  houses.  In 
one  hamlet,  where  I  found  two  houses  still  stand- 
ing, the  folk  told  me  that  these  had  been  left  be- 
cause the  Japanese  shot  the  daughter  of  the  owner 
of  one  of  them,  a  girl  of  ten.  "  When  they  shot 
her,"  the  villagers  said,  "  we  approached  the  sol- 
diers, and  said,  '  Please  excuse  us,  but  since  you 
have  killed  the  daughter  of  this  man  you  should 
not  burn  his  house.'  And  the  soldiers  listened 
to  us." 

In  towns  like  Chong-ju  and  Won-ju  practically 
all  the  women  and  children  and  better-class  families 
had  disappeared.  The  shops  were  shut  and  barri- 
caded by  their  owners  before  leaving,  but  many  of 


156  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

them  had  been  forced  open  and  looted.  The 
destruction  in  other  towns  paled  to  nothing,  how- 
ever, before  the  havoc  wrought  in  Chee-chong. 
Here  was  a  town  completely  destroyed. 

Chee-chong  was,  up  to  the  late  summer  of  1907, 
an  important  rural  centre,  containing  between  2,000 
and  3,000  inhabitants,  and  beautifully  situated  in  a 
sheltered  plain,  surrounded  by  high  mountains.  It 
was  a  favourite  resort  of  high  officials,  a  Korean 
Bath  or  Cheltenham.  Many  of  the  houses  were 
large,  and  some  had  tiled  roofs — a  sure  evidence  of 
wealth. 

When  the  "  Righteous  Army  "  began  operations, 
one  portion  of  it  occupied  the  hills  beyond  Chee- 
chong.  The  Japanese  sent  a  small  body  of  troops 
into  the  town.  These  were  attacked  one  night  on 
three  sides,  several  were  killed,  and  the  others  were 
compelled  to  retire.  The  Japanese  despatched 
reinforcements,  and  after  some  fighting  regained 
lost  ground.  They  then  determined  to  make  Chee- 
chong  an  example  to  the  countryside.  The  entire 
town  was  put  to  the  torch.  The  soldiers  carefully 
tended  the  flames,  piling  up  everything  for  destruc- 
tion. Nothing  was  left,  save  one  image  of  Buddha 
and  the  magistrate's  yamen.  When  the  Koreans 
fled,  five  men,  one  woman,  and  a  child,  all  wounded, 
were  left  behind.     These  disappeared  in  the  flames. 

It  was  a  hot  early  autumn  when  I  reached  Chee- 
chong.  The  brilliant  sunshine  revealed  a  Japanese 
flag  waving  over  a  hillock  commanding  the  town, 
and  glistened  against  the  bayonet  of  a  Japanese 


WITH  THE  EEBELS  157 

sentry.  I  dismounted  and  walked  down  the  streets 
and  over  the  heaps  of  ashes.  Never  have  I  wit- 
nessed such  complete  destruction.  Where  a  month 
before  there  had  been  a  busy  and  prosperous  com- 
munity, there  was  now  nothing  but  lines  of  little 
heaps  of  black  and  gray  dust  and  cinders.  Not  a 
whole  wall,  not  a  beam,  and  not  an  unbroken  jar 
remained.  Here  and  there  a  man  might  be  seen 
poking  among  the  ashes,  seeking  for  aught  of  value. 
The  search  was  vain.  Chee-chong  had  been  wiped 
off  the  map.  "Where  are  your  people ?"  I  asked 
the  few  searchers.  "  They  are  lying  on  the  hill- 
sides," came  the  reply. 

Up  to  this  time  I  had  not  met  a  single  rebel  sol- 
dier, and  very  few  Japanese.  My  chief  meeting 
with  the  Japanese  occurred  the  previous  day  at 
Chong-ju.  As  I  approached  that  town,  I  noticed 
that  its  ancient  walls  were  broken  down.  The 
stone  arches  of  the  city  gates  were  left,  but  the 
gates  themselves  and  most  of  the  walls  had  gone. 
A  Japanese  sentry  and  a  gendarme  stood  at  the 
gateway,  and  cross-examined  me  as  I  entered.  A 
small  body  of  Japanese  troops  were  stationed  here, 
and  operations  in  the  country  around  were  ap- 
parently directed  from  this  centre. 

I  at  once  called  upon  the  Japanese  Colonel  in 
charge.  His  room,  a  great  apartment  in  the  local 
governor's  yamen,  showed  on  all  sides  evidences  of 
the  thoroughness  with  which  the  Japanese  were 
conducting  this  campaign.  Large  maps,  with  red 
marks,  revealed  strategic  positions  now  occupied. 


158  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

A  little  printed  pamphlet,  with  maps,  evidently  for 
the  use  of  officers,  lay  on  the  table. 

The  Colonel  received  me  politely,  but  expressed 
his  regrets  that  I  had  come.  The  men  he  was  fight- 
ing were  mere  robbers,  he  said,  and  there  was  noth- 
ing for  me  to  see.  He  gave  me  various  warnings 
about  dangers  ahead.  Then  he  very  kindly  ex- 
plained that  the  Japanese  plan  was  to  hem  in  the 
volunteers,  two  sections  of  troops  operating  from 
either  side  and  making  a  circle  around  the  seat  of 
trouble.  These  would  unite  and  gradually  drive 
the  Koreans  towards  a  centre. 

The  maps  which  the  Colonel  showed  me  settled 
my  movements.  A  glance  at  them  made  clear  that 
the  Japanese  had  not  yet  occupied  the  line  of  coun- 
try between  Chee-chong  and  Won-ju.  Here,  then, 
was  the  place  where  I  must  go  if  I  would  meet  the 
Korean  bands.  So  it  was  towards  Won-ju  that  I 
turned  our  horses'  heads  on  the  following  day,  after 
gazing  on  the  ruins  of  Chee-chong. 

It  soon  became  evident  that  I  was  very  near  to 
the  Korean  forces.  At  one  place,  not  far  from 
Chee-chong,  a  party  of  them  had  arrived  two  days 
before  I  passed,  and  had  demanded  arms.  A  little 
further  on  Koreans  and  Japanese  had  narrowly 
escaped  meeting  in  the  village  street,  not  many 
hours  before  I  stopped  there.  As  I  approached 
one  hamlet,  the  inhabitants  fled  into  the  high  corn, 
and  on  my  arrival  not  a  soul  was  to  be  found. 
They  mistook  me  for  a  Japanese  out  on  a  shooting 
and  burning  expedition. 


WITH  THE  EEBELS  159 

It  now  became  more  difficult  to  obtain  carriers. 
Our  ponies  were  showing  signs  of  fatigue,  for  we 
were  using  them  very  hard  over  the  mountainous 
country.  It  was  impossible  to  hire  fresh  animals, 
as  the  Japanese  had  commandeered  all.  Up  to 
Won-ju  I  had  to  pay  double  the  usual  rate  for  my 
carriers.  From  Won-ju  onwards  carriers  abso- 
lutely refused  to  go  further,  whatever  the  pay. 

"  On  the  road  beyond  here  many  bad  men  are  to 
be  found,"  they  told  me  at  Won-ju.  "  These  bad 
men  shoot  every  one  who  passes.  We  will  not  go 
to  be  shot."  My  own  boys  were  showing  some 
uneasiness.  Fortunately,  I  had  in  my  personal 
servant  Min-gun,  and  in  the  leader  of  the  pack- 
pony  two  of  the  staunchest  Koreans  I  have  ever 
known. 

The  country  beyond  Won-ju  was  splendidly 
suited  for  an  ambuscade,  such  as  the  people  there 
promised  me.  The  road  was  rocky  and  broken, 
and  largely  lay  through  a  narrow,  winding  valley, 
with  overhanging  cliffs.  Now  we  would  come  on 
a  splendid  gorge,  evidently  of  volcanic  origin ;  now 
we  would  pause  to  chip  a  bit  of  gold-bearing  quartz 
from  the  rocks,  for  this  is  a  famous  gold  centre  of 
Korea.  An  army  might  have  been  hidden  securely 
around. 

Twilight  was  just  gathering  as  we  stopped  at  a 
small  village  where  we  intended  remaining  for  the 
night.  The  people  were  sullen  and  unfriendly,  a 
striking  contrast  to  what  I  had  found  elsewhere. 
In  other  parts  they  all  came  and  welcomed  me, 


160       .   KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

sometimes  refusing  to  take  payment  for  the  ac- 
commodation they  supplied.  "  We  are  glad  that 
a  white  man  has  come."  But  in  this  village  the 
men  gruffly  informed  me  that  there  was  not  a  scrap 
of  horse  food  or  of  rice  to  be  had.  They  advised 
us  to  go  on  to  another  place,  fifteen  li  ahead. 

We  started  out.  When  we  had  ridden  a  little 
way  from  the  village  I  chanced  to  glance  back  at 
some  trees'  skirting  a  corn-field.  A  man,  half- 
hidden  by  a  bush,  was  fumbling  with  something  in 
his  hands,  something  which  he  held  down  as  I 
turned.  I  took  it  to  be  the  handle  of  a  small  reap- 
ing-knife,  but  it  was  growing  too  dark  to  see 
clearly.  A  minute  later,  however,  there  came  a 
smart  "  ping  "  past  my  ear,  followed  by  the  thud 
of  a  bullet  striking  metal. 

I  turned,  but  the  man  had  disappeared.  It  would 
have  been  merely  foolish  to  blaze  back  with  a  .380 
Colt  at  a  distance  of  over  a  hundred  yards,  and 
there  was  no  time  to  go  back.  So  we  continued  on 
our  way. 

Before  arriving  at  Won-ju  we  had  been  told  that 
we  would  certainly  find  the  Righteous  Army  around 
there.  At  Won-ju  men  said  that  it  was  at  a 
place  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  ahead.  When  we 
reached  that  distance  we  were  directed  onwards  to 
Yan-gun.  We  walked  into  Yan-gun  one  afternoon, 
only  to  be  again  disappointed.  Here,  however,  we 
learned  that  there  had  been  a  fight  that  same  morn- 
ing at  a  village  fifteen  miles  nearer  Seoul,  and  that 
the  Koreans  had  been  defeated. 


WITH  THE  EEBELS  161 

Yan-gun  presented  a  remarkable  sight.  A  dozen 
red  crosses  waved  over  houses  at  different  points. 
In  the  main  street  every  shop  was  closely  barri- 
caded, and  a  cross  was  pasted  on  nearly  every  door. 
These  crosses,  roughly  painted  on  paper  in  red  ink, 
were  obtained  from  the  elder  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
church  there.  A  week  before  some  Japanese  sol- 
diers had  arrived  and  burned  a  few  houses.  They 
spared  one  house  close  to  them  waving  a  Christian 
cross.  As  soon  as  the  Japanese  left  nearly  every 
one  pasted  a  cross  over  his  door. 

At  first  Yan-gun  seemed  deserted.  The  people 
were  watching  me  from  behind  the  shelter  of  their 
doors.  Then  men  and  boys  crept  out,  and  grad- 
ually approached.  We  soon  made  friends.  The 
women  had  fled.  I  settled  down  that  afternoon  in 
the  garden  of  a  Korean  house  of  the  better  type. 
My  boy  was  preparing  my  supper  in  the  front  court- 
yard, when  he  suddenly  dropped  everything  to  rush 
to  me.  "  Master,"  he  cried,  highly  excited,  "  the 
Righteous  Army  has  come.  Here  are  the  sol- 
diers." 

In  another  moment  half  a  dozen  of  them  entered 
the  garden,  formed  in  line  in  front  of  me  and 
saluted.  They  were  all  lads,  from  eighteen  to 
twenty-six.  One,  a  bright-faced,  handsome  youth, 
still  wore  the  old  uniform  of  the  regular  Korean 
Army.  Another  had  a  pair  of  military  trousers. 
Two  of  them  were  in  slight,  ragged  Korean  dress. 
Not  one  had  leather  boots.  Around  their  waists 
were  home-made  cotton  cartridge  belts,  half  full. 


162  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FREEDOM 

One  wore  a  kind  of  tarboosh  on  his  head,  and  the 
others  had  bits  of  rag  twisted  round  their  hair. 

I  looked  at  the  guns  they  were  carrying.  The 
six  men  had  five  different  patterns  of  weapons,  and 
none  was  any  good.  One  proudly  carried  an  old 
Korean  sporting  gun  of  the  oldest  type  of  muzzle- 
loaders  known  to  man.  Around  his  arm  was  the 
long  piece  of  thin  rope  which  he  kept  smouldering 
as  touch-powder,  and  hanging  in  front  of  him  were 
the  powder  horn  and  bullet  bag  for  loading.  This 
sporting  gun  was,  I  afterwards  found,  a  common 
weapon.  The  ramrod,  for  pressing  down  the 
charge,  was  home-made  and  cut  from  a  tree.  The 
barrel  was  rust-eaten.  There  was  only  a  strip  of 
cotton  as  a  carrying  strap. 

The  second  man  had  an  old  Korean  army  rifle, 
antiquated,  and  a  very  bad  specimen  of  its  time. 
The  third  had  the  same.  One  had  a  tiny  sporting 
gun,  the  kind  of  weapon,  warranted  harmless,  that 
fathers  give  to  their  fond  sons  at  the  age  of  ten. 
Another  had  a  horse-pistol,  taking  a  rifle  cartridge. 
Three  of  the  guns  bore  Chinese  marks.  They  were 
all  eaten  up  with  ancient  rust. 

These  were  the  men — think  of  it — who  for  weeks 
had  been  bidding  defiance  to  the  Japanese  Army! 
Even  now  a  Japanese  division  of  regular  soldiers 
was  manoeuvring  to  corral  them  and  their  com- 
rades. Three  of  the  party  in  front  of  me  were 
coolies.  The  smart  young  soldier  who  stood  at  the 
right  plainly  acted  as  sergeant,  and  had  done  his 
best  to  drill  his  comrades  into  soldierly  bearing.     A 


WITH  THE  KEBELS  163 

seventh  man  now  came  in,  unarmed,  a  Korean  of 
the  better  class,  well  dressed  in  the  long  robes  of  a 
gentleman,  but  thin,  sun-stained  and  wearied  like 
the  others. 

A  pitiful  group  they  seemed — men  already 
doomed  to  certain  death,  fighting  in  an  absolutely 
hopeless  cause.  But  as  I  looked  the  sparkling  eyes 
and  smiles  of  the  sergeant  to  the  right  seemed  to 
rebuke  me.  Pity!  Maybe  my  pity  was  misplaced. 
At  least  they  were  showing  their  countrymen  an 
example  of  patriotism,  however  mistaken  their 
method  of  displaying  it  might  be. 

They  had  a  story  to  tell,  for  they  had  been  in  the 
fight  that  morning,  and  had  retired  before  the  Japa- 
nese. The  Japanese  had  the  better  position,  and 
forty  Japanese  soldiers  had  attacked  two  hundred  of 
them  and  they  had  given  way.  But  they  had  killed 
four  Japanese,  and  the  Japanese  had  only  killed  two 
of  them  and  wounded  three  more.  Such  was  their 
account. 

I  did  not  ask  them  why,  when  they  had  killed 
twice  as  many  as  the  enemy,  they  had  yet  retreated. 
The  real  story  of  the  fight  I  could  learn  later.  As 
they  talked  others  came  to  join  them — two  old  men, 
one  fully  eighty,  an  old  tiger-hunter,  with  bent  back, 
grizzled  face,  and  patriarchal  beard.  The  two  new- 
comers carried  the  old  Korean  sporting  rifles. 
Other  soldiers  of  the  retreating  force  were  outside. 
There  was  a  growing  tumult  in  the  street.  How 
long  would  it  be  before  the  triumphant  Japanese, 
following  up  their  victory,  attacked  the  town? 


164  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

I  was  not  to  have  much  peace  that  night.  In 
the  street  outside  a  hundred  noisy  disputes  were 
proceeding  between  volunteers  and  the  townsfolk. 
The  soldiers  wanted  shelter;  the  people,  fearing  the 
Japanese,  did  not  wish  to  let  them  in.  A  party  of 
them  crowded  into  an  empty  building  adjoining  the 
house  where  I  was,  and  they  made  the  place  ring 
with  their  disputes  and  recriminations. 

Very  soon  the  officer  who  had  been  in  charge  of 
the  men  during  the  fight  that  day  called  on  me. 
He  was  a  comparatively  young  man,  dressed  in  the 
ordinary  long  white  garments  of  the  better-class 
Koreans.  I  asked  him  what  precautions  he  had 
taken  against  a  night  attack,  for  if  the  Japanese 
knew  where  we  were  they  would  certainly  come  on 
us.  Had  he  any  outposts  placed  in  positions? 
Was  the  river-way  guarded?  "There  is  no  need 
for  outposts,"  he  replied.  "  Every  Korean  man 
around  watches  for  us." 

I  cross-examined  him  about  the  constitution  of 
the  rebel  army.  How  were  they  organized?  From 
what  he  told  me,  it  was  evident  that  they  had 
practically  no  organization  at  all.  There  were  a 
number  of  separate  bands  held  together  by  the 
loosest  ties.  A  rich  man  in  each  place  found  the 
money.  This  he  secretly  gave  to  one  or  two  open 
rebels,  and  they  gathered  adherents  around  them. 

He  admitted  that  the  men  were  in  anything  but 
a  good  way.  "  We  may  have  to  die,"  he  said. 
"  Well,  so  let  it  be.  It  is  much  better  to  die  as  a 
free  man  than  to  live  as  the  slave  of  Japan." 


WITH  THE  EEBELS  165 

He  had  not  been  gone  long  before  still  another 
called  on  me,  a  middle-aged  Korean  gentleman, 
attended  by  a  staff  of  officials.  Here  was  a  man  of 
rank,  and  I  soon  learned  that  he  was  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief for  the  entire  district.  I  was  in 
somewhat  of  a  predicament.  I  had  used  up  all  my 
food,  and  had  not  so  much  as  a  cigar  or  a  glass  of 
whiskey  left  to  offer  him.  One  or  two  flickering 
candles  in  the  covered  courtyard  of  the  inn  lit  up 
his  care-worn  face.  I  apologized  for  the  rough  sur- 
roundings in  which  I  received  him,  but  he  immedi- 
ately brushed  my  apologies  aside.  He  complained 
bitterly  of  the  conduct  of  his  subordinate,  who  had 
risked  an  engagement  that  morning  when  he  had 
orders  not  to.  The  commander,  it  appeared,  had 
been  called  back  home  for  a  day  on  some  family 
affairs,  and  hurried  back  to  the  front  as  soon  as  he 
knew  of  the  trouble.  He  had  come  to  me  for  a 
purpose.  "  Our  men  want  weapons,"  he  said. 
"  They  are  as  brave  as  can  be,  but  you  know  what 
their  guns  are  like,  and  we  have  very  little  ammuni- 
tion. We  cannot  buy,  but  you  can  go  to  and  fro 
freely  as  you  want.  Now,  you  act  as  our  agent. 
Buy  guns  for  us  and  bring  them  to  us.  Ask  what 
money  you  like,  it  does  not  matter.  Five  thousand 
dollars,  ten  thousand  dollars,  they  are  yours  if  you 
will  have  them.     Only  bring  us  guns !  " 

I  had,  of  course,  to  tell  him  that  I  could  not  do 
anything  of  the  kind.  When  he  further  asked  me 
questions  about  the  positions  of  the  Japanese  I  was 
forced  to  give  evasive  answers.     To  my  mind,  the 


166  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

publicist  who  visits  fighting  forces  in  search  of  in- 
formation, as  I  was  doing,  is  in  honour  bound  not 
to  communicate  what  he  learns  to  the  other  side. 
I  could  no  more  tell  the  rebel  leader  of  the  exposed 
Japanese  outposts  I  knew,  and  against  which  I 
could  have  sent  his  troops  with  the  certainty  of 
success,  than  I  could  on  return  tell  the  Japanese  the 
strength  of  his  forces. 

All  that  night  the  rebels  dribbled  in.  Several 
wounded  men  who  had  escaped  from  the  fight  the 
previous  day  were  borne  along  by  their  comrades, 
and  early  on  the  following  morning  some  soldiers 
came  and  asked  me  to  do  what  I  could  to  heal  them. 
I  went  out  and  examined  the  men.  One  had  no 
less  than  five  bullet-holes  in  him  and  yet  seemed 
remarkably  cheerful.  Two  others  had  single  shots 
of  a  rather  more  dangerous  nature.  I  am  no  sur- 
geon, and  it  was  manifestly  impossible  for  me  to 
jab  into  their  wounds  with  my  hunting-knife  in  the 
hope  of  extracting  the  bullets.  I  found,  however, 
some  corrosive  sublimate  tabloids  in  my  leather 
medicine  case.  These  I  dissolved,  and  bathed  the 
wounds  with  the  mixture  to  stop  suppuration.  I 
had  some  Listerine,  and  I  washed  their  rags  in  it. 
I  bound  the  clean  rags  on  the  wounds,  bade  the  men 
lie  still  and  eat  little,  and  left  them. 

Soon  after  dawn  the  rebel  regiments  paraded  in 
the  streets.  They  reproduced  on  a  larger  scale  the 
characteristics  I  had  noted  among  the  few  men  who 
came  to  visit  me  the  evening  before,  poor  weapons 
and  little  ammunition.     They  sent  out  men  in  ad- 


WITH  THE  REBELS  167 

vance  before  I  departed  in  the  morning  to  warn 
their  outposts  that  I  was  an  Englishman  (really  I 
am  a  Scots-Canadian,  but  to  them  it  was  all  the 
same)  who  must  not  be  injured.  I  left  them  with 
mutual  good  wishes,  but  I  made  a  close  inspection 
of  my  party  before  we  marched  away  to  see  that 
all  our  weapons  were  in  place.  Some  of  my  boys 
begged  me  to  give  the  rebels  our  guns  so  that  they 
might  kill  the  Japanese! 

We  had  not  gone  very  far  before  we  descended 
into  a  rocky  and  sandy  plain  by  the  river.  Sud- 
denly I  heard  one  of  my  boys  shout  at  the  top  of 
his  voice,  as  he  threw  up  his  arms,  "  Yong  guk 
ta-in."  We  all  stopped,  and  the  others  took  up  the 
cry.  "What  does  this  mean?"  I  asked.  "Some 
rebel  soldiers  are  surrounding  us,"  said  Min-gun, 
"  and  they  are  going  to  fire.  They  think  you  are 
a  Japanese."  I  stood  against  the  sky-line  and 
pointed  vigorously  to  myself  to  show  that  they  were 
mistaken.  "  Yong  guk !  "  I  shouted,  with  my  boys. 
It  was  not  dignified,  but  it  was  very  necessary. 
Now  we  could  see  creeping,  ragged  figures  running 
from  rock  to  rock,  closer  and  closer  to  us.  The 
rifles  of  some  were  covering  us  while  the  others  ad- 
vanced. Then  a  party  of  a  couple  of  dozen  rose 
from  the  ground  near  to  hand,  with  a  young  man  in 
a  European  officer's  uniform  at  their  head.  They 
ran  to  us,  while  we  stood  and  waited.  At  last  they 
saw  who  I  was,  and  when  they  came  near  they 
apologized  very  gracefully  for  their  blunder.  "  It 
^was  fortunate  that  you  shouted  when  you  did," 


168  KOBEA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

said  one  ugly-faced  young  rebel,  as  he  slipped  his 
cartridge  back  into  his  pouch ;  "  I  had  you  nicely 
covered  and  was  just  going  to  shoot."  Some  of 
the  soldiers  in  this  band  were  not  more  than  four- 
teen to  sixteen  years  old.  I  made  them  stand  and 
have  their  photographs  taken. 

By  noon  I  arrived  at  the  place  from  which  the 
Korean  soldiers  had  been  driven  on  the  day  before. 
The  villagers  there  were  regarded  in  very  un- 
friendly fashion  by  the  rebels,  who  thought  they 
had  betrayed  them  to  the  Japanese.  The  villagers 
told  me  what  was  evidently  the  true  story  of  the 
fight.  They  said  that  about  twenty  Japanese  sol- 
diers had  on  the  previous  morning  marched  quickly 
to  the  place  and  attacked  two  hundred  rebels  there. 
One  Japanese  soldier  was  hurt,  receiving  a  flesh 
wound  in  the  arm,  and  five  rebels  were  wounded. 
Three  of  these  latter  got  away,  and  these  were  the 
ones  I  had  treated  earlier  in  the  morning.  Two 
others  were  left  on  the  field,  one  badly  shot  in  the 
left  cheek  and  the  other  in  the  right  shoulder.  To 
quote  the  words  of  the  villagers,  "As  the  Japanese 
soldiers  came  up  to  these  wounded  men  they  were 
too  sick  to  speak,  and  they  could  only  utter  cries 
like  animals — '  Hula,  hula,  hula!'  They  had  no 
weapons  in  their  hands,  and  their  blood  was  run- 
ning on  the  ground.  The  Japanese  soldiers  heard 
their  cries,  and  went  up  to  them  and  stabbed  them 
through  and  through  and  through  again  with  their 
bayonets  until  they  died.  The  men  were  torn  very 
much  with  the  bayonet  stabs,  and  we  had  to  take 


WITH  THE  EEBELS  169 

them  up  and  bury  them."  The  expressive  faces  of 
the  villagers  were  more  eloquent  than  mere 
description  was. 

Were  this  an  isolated  instance,  it  would  scarcely 
be  necessary  to  mention  it.  But  what  I  heard  on 
all  sides  went  to  show  that  in  a  large  number  of 
fights  in  the  country  the  Japanese  systematically 
killed  all  the  wounded  and  all  who  surrendered 
themselves.  This  was  not  so  in  every  case,  but  it 
certainly  was  in  very  many.  The  fact  was  con- 
firmed by  the  Japanese  accounts  of  many  fights, 
where  the  figures  given  of  Korean  casualties  were 
so  many  killed,  with  no  mention  of  wounded  or 
prisoners.  In  place  after  place  also,  the  Japanese, 
besides  burning  houses,  shot  numbers  of  men  whom 
they  suspected  of  assisting  the  rebels.  War  is  war, 
and  one  could  scarcely  complain  at  the  shooting  of 
rebels.  Unfortunately  much  of  the  killing  was  in- 
discriminate, to  create  terror. 

I  returned  to  Seoul.  The  Japanese  authorities 
evidently  decided  that  it  would  not  be  advisable  to 
arrest  me  for  travelling  in  the  interior  without  a 
passport.  It  was  their  purpose  to  avoid  as  far  as 
possible  any  publicity  being  given  to  the  doings  of 
the  Righteous  Army,  and  to  represent  them  as 
mere  bands  of  disorderly  characters,  preying  on  the 
population.  They  succeeded  in  creating  this  opin- 
ion throughout  the  world. 

But  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  movement  grew  and 
grew.  It  was  impossible  for  the  Koreans  to  ob- 
tain arms;  they  fought  without  arms.     In  June, 


170  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

1908,  nearly  two  years  afterwards,  a  high  Japanese 
official,  giving  evidence  at  the  trial  of  Mr.  Bethell 
before  a  specially  convened  British  court  at  Seoul, 
said  that  about  20,000  troops  were  then  engaged  in 
putting  down  the  disturbances,  and  that  about  one- 
half  of  the  country  was  in  a  condition  of  armed  re- 
sistance. The  Koreans  continued  their  fight  until 
1915,  when,  according  to  Japanese  official  state- 
ments, the  rebellion  was  finally  suppressed.  One 
can  only  faintly  imagine  the  hardships  these  moun- 
taineers and  young  men  of  the  plains,  tiger  hunters, 
and  old  soldiers,  must  have  undergone.  The  taunts 
about  Korean  "  cowardice  "  and  "  apathy  "  were 
beginning  to  lose  their  force. 


X 

THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  KOREAN  EMPIRE 

PRINCE  ITO— he  was  made  Prince  after  the 
abdication  of  Yi  Hyeung — was  Resident- 
General  of  Korea  from  1906  to  1908,  and  was 
followed  by  Viscount  Sone,  who  carried  on  his 
policies  until  1910.  Ito  is  still  remembered  as  the 
best  of  the  Japanese  administrators. 

He  had  an  exceedingly  difficult  task.  He  had  to 
tear  up  an  ancient  administration  by  the  roots,  and 
substitute  a  new.  This  could  not  fail  to  be  a  pain- 
ful process.  He  had  the  best  and  the  worst  in- 
stincts of  a  nation  aroused  against  him,  the  patriot- 
ism and  loyalty  of  the  Korean  people,  and  also  their 
obstinacy  and  apathy.  He  was  hampered  by  the 
poor  quality  of  many  of  the  minor  officials  who  had 
to  carry  out  his  orders  and  still  more  by  the  char- 
acter of  the  settlers  from  his  own  land.  The  neces- 
sities of  Japanese  Imperial  policy  compelled  the  in- 
fliction of  much  injustice  on  the  Korean  people. 
The  determination  to  plant  as  many  Japanese  on 
Korean  soil  as  possible  involved  the  expropriation 
of  Korean  interests  and  the  harsh  treatment  of 
many  small  Korean  landowners  and  tenants.     The 

171 


172  ROEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

powerful  and  growing  commercial  interests  of 
Japan  were  using  every  possible  pressure  to  ex- 
ploit Korea,  to  obtain  concessions  and  to  treat  the 
land  as  one  to  be  despoiled  for  their  benefit.  Ito 
meant  well  by  Korea,  and  had  vision  enough  to  see 
that  the  ill-treatment  of  her  people  injured  Japan 
even  more  than  it  did  them.  It  was  his  misfortune 
to  be  committed  to  an  impossible  policy  of  Im- 
perial absorption.  He  did  his  utmost  to  minimize 
its  evils  and  promote  reforms. 

Unfortunately,  all  of  his  subordinates  did  not  see 
eye  to  eye  with  him.  His  military  chief,  Hasegawa, 
believed  in  the  policy  of  the  strong  hand,  and  prac- 
ticed it.  A  large  majority  of  the  Japanese  immi- 
grants acted  in  a  way  fatal  to  the  creation  of  a 
policy  of  good-will.  The  average  Japanese  re- 
garded the  Korean  as  another  Ainu,  a  barbarian, 
and  himself  as  one  of  the  Chosen  Race,  who  had  the 
right  to  despoil  and  roughly  treat  his  inferiors,  as 
occasion  served. 

Some  Koreans  stooped  to  the  favourite  Oriental 
weapon  of  assassination. 

In  1907  Mr.  W.  D.  Stevens,  Foreign  Adviser  to 
the  Korean  Government,  was  murdered  by  a 
Korean  when  passing  through  San  Francisco.  In 
October,  1909,  Prince  Ito,  when  making  a  journey 
northwards,  was  killed  by  another  Korean  at  Har- 
bin. Both  of  the  murderers  were  nominal  Chris- 
tians, the  first  a  Protestant  and  the  second  a  Cath- 
olic. A  deadly  blow  was  struck  at  the  Korean 
cause  by  the  men  who  thus  sought  to  serve  her. 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  KOREAN  EMPIRE    173 

This  book  will  probably  be  read  by  many 
Koreans,  young  men  and  women  with  hearts  aflame 
at  the  sufferings  of  their  people.  I  can  well  un- 
derstand the  intense  anger  that  must  fill  their  souls. 
If  my  people  had  been  treated  as  theirs  have,  I 
would  feel  the  same. 

I  hope  that  every  man  guilty  of  torturing,  out- 
raging or  murder  will  eventually  be  brought  to 
justice  and  dealt  with  as  justice  directs.  But  for 
individuals,  or  groups  of  individuals  to  take  such 
punishment  into  their  own  hands  is  to  inflict  the 
greatest  damage  in  their  power,  not  on  the  person 
they  attack,  but  on  the  cause  they  seek  to  serve. 

Why? 

In  the  first  case,  they  destroy  sympathy  for  their 
cause.  The  conscience  of  the  world  revolts  at  the 
idea  of  the  individual  or  the  irresponsible  group  of 
individuals  taking  to  themselves  the  right  of  in- 
flicting death  at  their  will. 

Next,  they  strengthen  the  cause  they  attack. 
They  place  themselves  on  or  below  the  level  of  the 
men  they  seek  to  punish. 

A  third  reason  is  that  the  assassins  in  many  cases 
reach  the  wrong  man.  They  do  not  know,  and 
cannot  know,  because  they  have  had  no  full  oppor- 
tunity of  learning,  what  the  other  has  had  to  say 
for  himself.  Too  often,  in  trying  to  slay  their  vic- 
tim, they  injure  others  who  have  nothing  to  do 
with  the  business. 

To  attack  one's  victim  without  giving  him  an  op- 
portunity  for   defence   is    essentially    a    cowardly 


174  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

thing.  Assassination — I  prefer  to  give  it  its  sim- 
pler name,  murder — is  wrong,  whatever  the  sup- 
posed excuse,  fundamentally  wrong,  wrong  in 
principle,  fatal  in  its  outcome  for  those  who  adopt 
it.     Have  nothing  to  do  with  it. 

The  murder  of  Prince  Ito  was  a  cruel  blow  for 
Korea.  It  was  followed  by  an  attempt  to  assas- 
sinate the  Korean  Premier,  the  man  who  had 
handed  his  country  over  to  Japan.  For  some  time 
the  military  party  in  Japan  had  been  clamouring 
for  a  more  severe  policy  in  the  Peninsula.  Now  it 
was  to  have  its  way.  General  Count  Terauchi  was 
appointed  Resident-General. 

Count  Terauchi  was  leader  of  the  military  party 
in  Korea,  and  an  avowed  exponent  of  the  policy  of 
"  thorough."  A  soldier  from  his  youth  up,  he  had 
risen  to  the  General  Staff,  and  in  1904  was  Min- 
ister of  War  in  the  fight  against  Russia,  earning 
his  Viscountcy  for  brilliant  services.  Strong,  re- 
lentless, able,  he  could  only  see  one  thing — Japan 
and  the  glory  of  Japan.  He  regarded  the  Koreans 
as  a  people  to  be  absorbed  or  to  be  eliminated.  He 
was  generally  regarded  as  unsympathetic  to  Chris- 
tianity, and  many  of  the  Koreans  were  now  Chris- 
tians. 

Terauchi  came  to  Seoul  in  the  summer  of  1910, 
to  reverse  the  policy  of  his  predecessors.  He  was 
going  to  stamp  the  last  traces  of  nationality  out  of 
existence.  Where  Ito  had  been  soft,  he  would  be 
hard  as  chilled  steel.  Where  Ito  had  beaten  men 
with  whips,  he  would  beat  them  with  scorpions. 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  KOEEAN  EMPIEE    175 

Every  one  knew  ahead  what  was  coming.  The 
usual  plan  was  followed.  First,  the  official  and 
semi-official  plan  was  followed.  The  Seoul  Press, 
now  the  lickspittle  of  the  great  man,  gave  good 
value  for  the  subsidy  it  receives.  It  came  out  with 
an  article  hard  to  surpass  for  brutality  and  hypoc- 
risy : — 

"  The  present  requires  the  wielding  of  an  iron  hand 
rather  than  a  gloved  one  in  order  to  secure  lasting  peace 
and  order  in  this  country!  There  is  no  lack  of  evidence 
to  show  an  intense  dissatisfaction  against  the  new  state 
of  things  is  fermenting  at  present  among  a  section  of  the 
Koreans.  It  is  possible  that  if  left  unchecked,  it  may 
culminate  in  some  shocking  crime.  Now  after  carefully 
studying  the  cause  and  nature  of  the  dissatisfaction  just 
referred  to,  we  find  that  it  is  both  foolish  and  unrea- 
sonable.     .      .      -    HjTVLX^        v 

"  Japan  is  in  this  country  with  the  object  of  promoting 
the  happiness  of  the  masses.'  She  has  not  come  to  Korea 
to  please  a  few  hundred  silly  youngsters  or  to  feed  a 
few  hundred  titled  loafers.  It  is  no  fault  of  hers  that 
these  men  are  dissatisfied  because  of  their  failure  to  satisfy 
them.  .  .  .  She  must  be  prepared  to  sacrifice  anybody 
who  offers  obstacles  to  her  work.  Japan  has  hitherto 
dealt  with  Korean  malcontents  in  a  lenient  way.  She  has 
learned  from  experience  gained  during  the  past  five  years 
that  there  are  some  persons  who  cannot  be  converted  by 
conciliatory  methods.  There  is  but  one  way  to  deal  with 
these  people,  and  that  is  by  stern  and  relentless  methods." 

The  Japan  Mail,  as  usual,  echoed  the  same  senti- 
ments from  Yokohama.  "  The  policy  of  concilia- 
tion is  all  very  well  in  the  hands  of  such  a  states- 
man as  the  late  Prince  Ito,"  it  declared.  "But 
failing  a  successor  to  Prince  Ito,  more  ordinary 


176  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

methods  will  be  found  safer  as  well  as  more  effi- 
cacious." 

Viscount  Terauchi  settled  in  the  capital,  and  it 
was  as  though  a  chill  had  passed  over  the  city.  He 
said  little,  in  public.  Callers,  high  and  low,  found 
him  stern  and  distant.  "  He  has  other  things  to 
think  of  than  pleasant  words,"  awed  Secretaries  re- 
peated. Things  suddenly  began  to  happen.  Four 
Japanese  papers  were  suspended  in  a  night.  An 
item  in  their  columns  was  objectionable.  Let 
others  be  very  careful.  The  police  system  was  re- 
versed. The  gendarmerie  were  to  be  brought  back 
again  in  full  force.  Every  day  brought  its  tale  of 
arrests.  Fifteen  students  were  arrested  this  morn- 
ing; the  old  Korean  President  of  the  Railway 
Board  had  been  hurried  to  prison;  the  office  of  a 
paper  in  Pyeng-yang  had  been  raided.  It  was  as 
though  the  new  Governor-General  had  deliberately 
set  himself  to  spread  a  feeling  of  terror. 

The  Korean  must  not  so  much  as  look  awry  now. 
Police  and  gendarmes  were  everywhere.  Spies 
seemed  to  catch  men's  thoughts.  More  troops 
were  coming  in.  Surely  something  was  about  to 
happen. 

Yet  there  were  some  smiling.  They  were  called 
to  the  Residency-General  to  hear  good  news.  This 
man  was  to  be  made  a  peer;  he  had  served  Japan 
well.  This  man,  if  he  and  his  kin  were  good,  was 
to  be  suitably  rewarded.  Bribes  for  the  com- 
plaisant, prison  for  the  obstinate. 

Men   guessed  what  was   coming.     There   were 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  KOREAN  EMPIRE    177 

mutterings,  especially  among  the  students.  But 
the  student  who  spoke  bravely,  even  behind  closed 
doors  to-day,  found  himself  in  jail  by  evening. 
The  very  walls  seemed  to  have  ears. 

Then  it  was  remarked  that  the  Ministers  of  State 
had  not  been  seen  for  some  days.  They  had  shut 
themselves  in,  refusing  to  see  all  callers.  They 
feared  assassination,  for  they  had  sold  their  coun- 
try. Policemen  and  troops  were  waiting  within 
easy  calls  from  their  homes,  lest  mobs  should  try 
to  burn  them  out,  like  rats  out  of  their  holes. 

And  then  the  news  came.  Korea  had  ceased  to 
exist  as  an  even  nominally  independent  or  separate 
country.  Japan  had  swallowed  it  up.  The  Em- 
peror— poor  fool — was  to  step  off  his  throne.  After 
four  thousand  years,  there  was  to  be  no  more  a 
throne  of  Korea.  The  Resident-General  would 
now  be  Governor-General.  The  name  of  the  na- 
tion was  to  be  wiped  out — henceforth  it  was  to  be 
Chosen,  a  province  of  Japan.  Its  people  were  to  be 
remade  into  a  lesser  kind  of  Japanese,  and  the  more 
adept  they  were  in  making  the  change,  the  less  they 
would  suffer.  They  were  to  have  certain  benefits. 
To  mark  the  auspicious  occasion  there  would  be  an 
amnesty — but  a  man  who  had  tried  to  kill  the 
traitor  Premier  would  not  be  in  it.  Five  per  cent 
of  taxes  and  all  unpaid  fiscal  dues  would  be  re- 
mitted.    Let  the  people  rejoice! 

The  Japanese  expected  an  uprising,  and  were  all 
ready  for  one.  "  Every  man  should  be  ready  to 
fight  and  die  in  the  cause  of  his  nation's  independ- 


178  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FREEDOM 

ence,"  they  said  tauntingly  to  the  Koreans.  But 
the  people's  leaders  kept  them  in.  Up  on  the  hills, 
the  Righteous  Army  was  still  struggling.  The 
people  must  wait  for  better  times. 

One  man  stuck  a  proclamation  on  the  West  Gate, 
threatening  death  to  the  traitors.  Man  after  man, 
scholars,  old  soldiers,  men  who  loved  Korea,  com- 
mitted suicide,  after  telling  of  their  grief.  "  Why 
should  we  live  when  our  land  is  dead?  "  they  asked. 

The  Japanese  sneered  because  the  people  did 
nothing.  "  We  may  assume,  indeed,  that  all  fear 
of  a  national  uprising  is  now  past,"  declared  a  semi- 
Government  organ.  "  The  nation  obviously  has 
no  leaders  competent  to  execute  and  direct  a  cru- 
sade in  the  cause  of  independence.  Whether  that 
lack  is  due  to  adroit  management  on  the  part  of  the 
Japanese  or  to  unpatriotic  apathy  on  the  part  of  the 
Koreans  we  cannot  pretend  to  judge." 

The  Japanese  decree  announcing  the  annexation 
of  the  country  was  in  itself  an  acknowledgment  that 
the  Japanese  administration  so  far  had  been  a  fail- 
ure.    Here  is  the  opening  paragraph : — 

"Notwithstanding  the  earnest  and  laborious  work  of 
reforms  in  the  administration  of  Korea  in  which  the 
Governments  of  Japan  and  Korea  have  been  engaged  for 
more  than  four  years  since  the  conclusion  of  the  Agree- 
ment of  1905,  the  existing  system  of  government  of  that 
country  has  not  proved  entirely  equal  to  the  work  of 
preserving  public  order  and  tranquillity,  and  in  addition 
a  spirit  of  suspicion  and  misgiving  pervades  the  whole 
peninsula. 

"  In  order  to  maintain  peace  and  prosperity  and  the  wel- 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  KOKEAN  EMPIEE    179 

fare  of  the  Koreans  and  at  the  same  time  to  ensure  the 
safety  and  repose  of  foreign  residents,  it  has  been  made 
abundantly  clear  that  fundamental  changes  in  the  actual 
regime  of  government  are  actually  essential." 

The  declaration  announced  various  changes.  It 
abrogated  all  Korean  foreign  treaties,  and  brought 
the  subjects  of  foreign  nations  living  in  Korea  un- 
der Japanese  law.  In  other  words,  extra-terri- 
toriality  was  abolished.  The  Government  agreed 
to  maintain  the  old  Korean  tariff  for  ten  years  both 
for  goods  coming  in  from  Japan  and  abroad.  This 
was  a  concession  to  foreign  importers  whose  trade 
otherwise  would  have  been  swamped.  It  also  al- 
lowed ships  under  foreign  registers  to  engage  in 
the  Korean  coasting  trade  for  ten  years  more. 

The  annexation  was  put  in  the  form  of  a  treaty 
between  the  Emperors  of  Japan  and  Korea,  as 
though  the  surrender  of  their  land  had  been  the  act 
of  the  Koreans  themselves,  or  their  ruler. 

His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Japan  and  His  Majesty 
the  Emperor  of  Korea  having  in  view  the  special  and 
close  relations  between  their  respective  countries  and  to 
ensure  peace  in  the  Extreme  East,  and  being  convinced 
that  these  objects  can  best  be  attained  by  the  annexation 
of  Korea  to  the  Empire  of  Japan  have  resolved  to  con- 
clude a  Treaty  of  such  annexation  and  have  for  that 
purpose  appointed  as  their  Plenipotentiaries,  that  is  to  say, 
His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Japan,  Viscount  Mas- 

kata  Terauchi,  His  Resident  General. 
And  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Korea,  Ye  Wan 
Yong,  His  Minister  President  of  State, 
Who,  upon  mutual  conference  and  deliberation,  have 
agreed  to  the  following  articles. 


180  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

Article  i.  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Korea  makes 
complete  and  permanent  cession  to  His  Majesty  the  Em- 
peror of  Japan  of  all  rights  of  sovereignty  over  the  whole 
of  Korea. 

Article  2.     His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Japan  accepts  ' 
the  cession  mentioned  in  the  preceding  Article,  and  con- 
sents to  the  complete  annexation  of  Korea  to  the  Empire 
of  Japan. 

Article  3.  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Japan  will 
accord  to  their  Majesties  the  Emperor  and  Empress  of 
Korea  and  His  Imperial  Highness  the  Crown  Prince  of 
Korea,  and  Their  Consorts  and  Heirs  such  titles,  dignity 
and  honour  as  are  appropriate  to  their  respective  rank 
and  sufficient  annual  grants  will  be  made  for  the  main- 
tenance of  such  titles,  dignity  and  honour. 

Article  4.  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Japan  will 
also  accord  appropriate  honour  and  treatment  to  the 
members  of  the  Imperial  House  of  Korea  and  their  heirs, 
other  than  those  mentioned  in  the  preceding  Article  and 
the  funds  necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  such  honour 
and  treatment  will  be  granted. 

Article  5.  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Japan  will 
confer  peerages  and  monetary  grants  upon  those  Koreans 
who,  on  account  of  meritorious  services,  are  regarded  as 
deserving  of  such  special  treatment. 

Article  6.  In  consequence  of  the  aforesaid  annexation, 
the  Government  of  Japan  assumes  the  entire  government 
and  administration  of  Korea,  and  undertakes  to  afford 
full  protection  for  the  property  and  person  of  Koreans, 
obeying  the  laws  then  in  force,  and  to  promote  the  wel- 
fare of  all  such  Koreans. 

Article  7.  The  Government  of  Japan  will,  so  far  as 
circumstances  permit,  employ  in  the  public  service  of 
Japan  in  Korea  those  Koreans  who  accept  the  new  regime 
of  Japan  loyally  and  in  good  faith,  and  who  are  duly 
qualified  for  such  service. 

Article  8.  This  Treaty,  having  been  approved  by  His 
Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Japan  and  His  Majesty  the  Em- 
peror of  Korea  shall  take  effect  from  the  day  of  its 
promulgation. 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  KOREAN  EMPIRE    181 

Some  defenders  of  Japan  have  wasted  much  ef- 
fort in  attempting  to  show  that  in  destroying  the 
Korean  Empire  Japan  did  not  break  her  word,  al- 
though she  had  repeatedly  pledged  herself  to  main- 
tain and  preserve  the  nation  and  the  Royal  House. 
Such  arguments,  under  the  circumstances,  are 
merely  nauseating.  Japan  wanted  Korea;  so  soon 
as  she  was  able,  Japan  took  it.  The  only  justifica- 
tion was 

"The  good  old  rule    .    .    .    the  simple  plan, 
That  he  shall  take  who  has  the  power, 
That  he  shall  keep,  who  can." 


XI 
"  I  WILL  WHIP  YOU  WITH  SCORPIONS  " 

THE  Japanese  administration  of  Korea  from 
1910  to  1919,  first  under  Count  Terauchi 
and  then  under  General  Hasegawa,  re- 
vealed the  harshest  and  most  relentless  form  of 
Imperial  administration.  When  formal  annexation 
was  completed  in  1910  all  the  hindrances  which  had 
hitherto  stood  in  the  way  of  the  complete  execution 
of  Japanese  methods  were  apparently  swept  on  one 
side.  The  Governor-General  had  absolute  power 
to  pass  what  ordinances  he  pleased,  and  even  to 
make  those  ordinances  retroactive.  Extra-terri- 
toriality  was  abolished,  and  foreign  subjects  in 
Korea  were  placed  entirely  under  the  Japanese 
laws. 

Japanese  statesmen  were  ambitious  to  show  the 
world  as  admirable  an  example  of  efficiency  in 
peace  as  Japan  had  already  shown  in  war.  Much 
thought  had  been  given  to  the  matter  for  a  long 
time  ahead.  The  colonial  systems  of  other  coun- 
tries had  been  carefully  studied.  Service  in  Korea 
was  to  be  a  mark  of  distinction,  reserved  for  the 
best  and  most  highly  paid.  National  pride  and 
national  interest  were  pledged  to  make  good. 
Money  was  spent  freely  and  some  of  the  greatest 

182 


"I  WILL  WHIP  YOU  WITH  SCORPIONS"    183 

statesmen  and  soldiers  of  Japan  were  placed  at  the 
head  of  affairs.  Ito,  by  becoming  Resident-Gen- 
eral, had  set  an  example  for  the  best  of  the  nation 
to  follow. 

Between  the  annexation  in  1910  and  the  uprising 
of  the  people  in  1919,  much  material  progress  was 
made.  The  old,  effete  administration  was  cleared 
away,  sound  currency  maintained,  railways  were 
greatly  extended,  roads  improved,  afforestation 
pushed  forward  on  a  great  scale,  agriculture  de- 
veloped, sanitation  improved  and  fresh  industries 
begun. 

And  yet  this  period  of  the  Japanese  administra- 
tion in  Korea  ranks  among  the  greatest  failures  of 
history,  a  failure  greater  than  that  of  Russia  in 
Finland  or  Poland  or  Austria-Hungary  in  Bosnia. 
America  in  Cuba  and  Japan  in  Korea  stand  out  as 
the  best  and  the  worst  examples  in  governing  new 
subject  peoples  that  the  twentieth  century  has  to 
show.  The  Japanese  entered  on  their  great  task 
in  a  wrong  spirit,  they  were  hampered  by  funda- 
mentally mistaken  ideas,  and  they  proved  that  they 
are  not  yet  big  enough  for  the  job. 

They  began  with  a  spirit  of  contempt  for  the 
Korean.  Good  administration  is  impossible  with- 
out sympathy  on  the  part  of  the  administrators; 
with  a  blind  and  foolish  contempt,  sympathy  is  im- 
possible. They  started  out  to  assimilate .  the 
Koreans,  to  destroy  their  national  ideals,  to  root 
out  their  ancient  ways,  to  make  them  over  again  as 
Japanese,  but  Japanese  of  an  inferior  brand,  sub- 


184  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

ject  to  disabilities  from  which  their  overlords  were 
free.  Assimilation  with  equality  is  difficult,  save  in 
the  case  of  small,  weak  peoples,  lacking  tradition 
and  national  ideals.  But  assimilation  with  in- 
feriority, attempted  on  a  nation  with  a  historic  ex- 
istence going  back  four  thousand  years  is  an  abso- 
lutely impossible  task.  Or,  to  be  more  exact,  it 
would  only  be  possible  by  assimilating  a  few,  the 
weaklings  of  the  nation,  and  destroying  the  strong 
majority  by  persecution,  direct  killing  and  a  steady 
course  of  active  corruption,  with  drugs  and  vice. 

The  Japanese  overestimated  their  own  capacity 
and  underestimated  the  Korean.  They  had  care- 
fully organized  their  claque  in  Europe  and  America, 
especially  in  America.  They  engaged  the  services 
of  a  group  of  paid  agents — some  of  them  holding 
highly  responsible  positions — to  sing  their  praises 
and  advocate  their  cause.  They  enlisted  others  by 
more  subtle  means,  delicate  flattery  and  social  am- 
bition. They  taught  diplomats  and  consular  of- 
ficials, especially  of  Great  Britain  and  America,  that 
it  was  a  bad  thing  to  become  a  persona  non  grata  to 
Tokyo.  They  were  backed  by  a  number  of  people, 
who  were  sincerely  won  over  by  the  finer  sides  of 
the  Japanese  character.  In  diplomatic  and  social  in- 
trigue, the  Japanese  make  the  rest  of  the  world 
look  as  children.  They  used  their  forces  not 
merely  to  laud  themselves,  but  to  promote  the  be- 
lief that  the  Koreans  were  an  exhausted  and  good- 
for-nothing  race. 

In  the  end,  they  made  the  fatal  mistake  of  believ- 


"I  WILL  WHIP  YOU  WITH  SCOKPIONS"    185 

ing  what  their  sycophants  and  flatterers  told  them. 
Japanese  civilization  was  the  highest  in  the  world ; 
Japan  was  to  be  the  future  leader,  not  alone  of 
Asia,  but  of  all  nations.  The  Korean  was  fit  for 
nothing  but  to  act  as  hewer  of  wood  and  drawer  of 
water  for  his  overlord. 

Had  Japan  been  wise  and  long-sighted  enough 
to  treat  the  Koreans  as  America  treated  the  Cubans 
or  England  the  people  of  the  Straits  Settlements, 
there  would  have  been  a  real  amalgamation — al- 
though not  an  assimilation — of  the  two  peoples. 
The  Koreans  were  wearied  of  the  extravagances, 
abuses  and  follies  of  their  old  administration.  But 
Japan  in  place  of  putting  Korean  interests  first 
ruled  the  land  for  the  benefit  of  Japan.  The  Japa- 
nese exploiter,  the  Japanese  settler  were  the  main 
men  to  be  studied. 

Then  Japan  sought  to  make  the  land  a  show 
place.  Elaborate  public  buildings  were  erected, 
railroads  opened,  state  maintained,  far  in  excess  of 
the  economic  strength  of  the  nation.  To  pay  for 
extravagant  improvements,  taxation  and  personal 
service  were  made  to  bear  heavily  on  the  people. 
Many  of  the  improvements  were  of  no  possible 
service  to  the  Koreans  themselves.  They  were 
made  to  benefit  Japanese  or  to  impress  strangers. 
And  the  officials  forgot  that  even  subject  peoples 
have  ideals  and  souls.  They  sought  to  force 
loyalty,  to  beat  it  into  children  with  the  stick  and 
drill  it  into  men  by  gruelling  experiences  in  prison 
cells.     Then  they  were  amazed  that  they  had  bred 


186  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

rebels.  They  sought  to  wipe  out  Korean  culture, 
and  then  were  aggrieved  because  Koreans  would 
not  take  kindly  to  Japanese  learning.  They  treated 
the  Koreans  with  open  contempt,  and  then  won- 
dered that  they  did  not  love  them. 

Let  us  examine  the  administration  more  closely 
in  detail. 

Its  outstanding  feature  for  most  of  the  people 
is  (I  use  the  present  tense  because  as  I  write  it 
still  continues)  the  gendarmerie  and  police.  These 
are  established  all  over  the  country,  and  they  have 
in  effect,  although  not  in  name,  power  of  life  or 
death.  They  can  enter  into  any  house,  without 
warrant,  and  search  it.  They  destroy  whatever 
they  please,  on  the  spot.  Thus  if  a  policeman 
searches  the  room  of  a  student,  and  sees  a  book 
which  does  not  please  him,  he  can — and  does — 
often  burn  it  on  the  spot.  Sometimes  he  takes  it 
into  the  street  and  burns  it  there,  to  impress  the 
neighbours. 

One  of  the  police  visits  most  feared  by  many 
villagers  is  the  periodical  examinations  to  see  if  the 
houses  are  clean.  If  the  policemen  are  not  satis- 
fied, they  do  not  trouble  to  take  the  people  to  the 
station,  but  give  them  a  flogging  then  and  there. 
This  house  examination  is  frequently  used  by  po- 
lice in  districts  where  they  wish  to  punish  the 
Christians,  or  to  prevent  their  neighbours  from  be- 
coming Christians.  The  Christian  houses  are  vis- 
ited and  the  Christians  flogged,  sometimes  without 
even  troubling  to  examine  the  houses  at  all.     This 


"I  WILL  WHIP  YOU  WITH  SCOKPIOtfS  »~187 

method  particularly  prevails  in  parts  of  the  Pyeng- 
yang  province. 

The  police  can  arrest  and  search  or  detain  any 
person,  without  warrant.  This  right  of  search  is 
freely  used  on  foreigners  as  well  as  Koreans.  Any 
Korean  taken  to  the  police  station  can,  in  practice, 
be  kept  in  custody  as  long  as  wanted,  without  trial, 
and  then  can  be  released  without  trial,  or  can  be 
summarily  punished  without  trial  by  the  police. 

The  usual  punishment  is  flogging — only  Koreans 
and  not  Japanese  or  foreigners  are  liable  to  be 
flogged.  This  punishment  can  be  given  in  such  a 
way  as  to  cripple,  to  confine  the  victim  to  his  home 
for  weeks,  or  to  kill.  While  it  is  not  supposed  to 
be  practiced  on  women,  on  men  over  sixty-five  or 
on  boys  under  fifteen,  the  police  flog  indiscrimi- 
nately. 

The  Japanese  Government  passed,  some  years 
ago,  regulations  to  prevent  the  abuse  of  flogging. 
These  regulations  are  a  dead  letter.  Here  is  the 
official  statement: 

"  It  was  decided  to  retain  it  (flogging),  but  only 
for  application  to  native  offenders.  In  March, 
1912,  Regulations  concerning  Flogging  and  the  En- 
forcing Detailed  Regulations  being  promulgated, 
many  improvements  were  made  in  the  measures 
hitherto  practiced.  Women,  boys  under  the  age  of 
fifteen  and  old  men  over  the  age  of  sixty  are  ex- 
empt from  flogging,  while  the  infliction  of  this  pun- 
ishment on  sick  convicts  and  on  the  insane  is  to  be 
postponed  for  six  months.     The  method  of  inflic- 


188  KOKEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FREEDOM 

tion  was  also  improved  so  that  by  observing 
greater  humanity,  unnecessary  pain  in  carrying  out 
a  flogging  could  be  avoided,  as  far  as  possible."  ■ 

So  much  for  the  official  claim.    Now  for  the  facts. 

In  the  last  year  for  which  returns  are  available, 
1916-17,  82,121  offenders  were  handled  by  police 
summary  judgment,  that  is,  punished  by  the  police 
on  the  spot,  without  trial.  Two-thirds  of  these 
punishments  (in  the  last  year  when  actual  flogging 
figures  were  published)  were  floggings. 

The  instrument  used  is  two  bamboos  lashed  to- 
gether. The  maximum  legal  sentence  is  ninety 
blows,  thirty  a  day  for  three  days  in  succession. 
To  talk  of  this  as  "  greater  humanity  "  or  "  avoid- 
ing unnecessary  pain  "  gives  me  nausea.  Any  ex- 
perienced official  who  has  had  to  do  with  such 
things  will  bear  me  out  in  the  assertion  that  it  is 
deliberately  calculated  to  inflict  the  maximum  of 
pain  which  the  human  frame  can  stand,  and  in  the 
most  long  drawn  out  manner. 

Sick  men,  women  and  boys  and  old  men  are 
flogged. 

In  the  disturbances  of  1919  wounded  men  who 
were  being  nursed  in  the  foreign  hospitals  in  Seoul 
were  taken  out  by  the  police  to  be  flogged,  despite 
the  protests  of  doctors  and  nurses.  There  were 
many  cases  reported  of  old  men  being  flogged. 
The  stripping  and  flogging  of  women,  particularly 
young  women,  was  notorious. 

'Annual  Report  of  Reforms  and  Progress  in  Chosen.   Keijo 
(Seoul),  1914. 


"I  WILL  WHIP  YOU  WITH  SCORPIONS"    189 

Here  is  one  case  of  the  flogging  of  boys. 

The  following  letter  from  a  missionary  in  Sun- 
chon — where  there  is  a  Presbyterian  hospital, — 
dated  May  25,  1919,  was  printed  in  the  report  of 
the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in 
America.  I  have  seen  other  communications  from 
people  who  saw  these  boys,  amply  confirming  the 
letter,  if  it  requires  confirmation. 

Eleven  Kangkei  boys  came  here  from  .     All 

the  eleven  were  beaten  ninety  stripes — thirty  each  day 
for  three  days,  May  16,  ij  and  18,  and  let  out  May  i8th. 
Nine  came  here  May  22nd,  and  two  more  May  24th. 

Tak  Chan-kuk  died  about  noon,  May  23rd. 

Kim  Myungha  died  this  evening. 

Kim  Hyungsun  is  very  sick. 

Kim  Chungsun  and  Song  Taksam  are  able  to  walk  but 
are  badly  broken. 

Kim  Oosik  seemed  very  doubtful  but  afterwards  im- 
proved. 

Choi  Tungwon,  Kim  Changook,  Kim  Sungkil,  and  Ko 
Pongsu  are  able  to  be  about,  though  the  two  have 
broken  flesh. 

Kim  Syungha  rode  from on  his  bicycle  and 

reached  here  about  an  hour  before  his  brother  died.  The 
first  six  who  came  into  the  hospital  were  in  a  dreadful 
fix,  four  days  after  the  beating.  No  dressing  or  anything 
had  been  done  for  them.  Dr.  Sharrocks  just  told  me 
that  he  feels  doubtful  about  some  of  the  others  since 
Myungha  died.  It  is  gangrene.  One  of  these  boys  is  a 
Chun  Kyoin,  and  another  is  not  a  Christian,  but  the 
rest  are  all  Christians. 

Mr.  Lampe  has  photographs.  The  stripes  were  laid 
on  to  the  buttocks  and  the  flesh  pounded  into  a  pulp. 

Greater  humanity!     Avoiding  unnecessary  pain! 
It  is  obvious  that  the  method  of  police  abso- 


190  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

lutism  is  open  to  very  great  abuse.  In  practice  it 
works  out  as  galling  tyranny.  A  quotation  from 
the  Japan  Chronicle  illustrates  one  of  the  abuses : 


"  In  the  course  of  interpellations  put  forward  by  a 
certain  member  in  the  last  session  of  the  Diet,  he  re- 
marked on  the  strength  of  a  statement  made  by  a  public 
procurator  of  high  rank  in  Korea,  that  it  was  usual  for 
a  gendarme  who  visits  a  Korean  house  for  the  purpose 
of  searching  for  a  criminal  to  violate  any  female  inmate 
of  the  house  and  to  take  away  any  article  that  suits  his 
fancy.  And  not  only  had  the  wronged  Koreans  no  means 
of  obtaining  redress  for  this  outrageous  conduct,  but  the 
judicial  authorities  could  take  no  proceedings  against  the 
offender  as  they  must  necessarily  depend  upon  the  gen- 
darmerie for  acceptable  evidence  of  crime." 


The  police  tyranny  does  not  end  with  flogging. 
When  a  person  is  arrested,  he  is  at  once  shut  off 
from  communication  with  his  friends.  He  is  not, 
necessarily,  informed  of  the  charge  against  him ;  his 
friends  are  not  informed.  He  is  not  in  the  early 
stages  allowed  counsel.  All  that  his  friends  know 
is  that  he  has  disappeared  in  the  grip  of  the  police, 
and  he  may  remain  out  of  sight  or  sound  for 
months  before  being  brought  to  trial  or  released. 

During  this  period  of  confinement  the  prisoner  is 
first  in  the  hands  of  the  police  who  are  getting  up 
the  case  against  him.  It  is  their  work  to  extract  a 
confession.  To  obtain  this  they  practice  torture, 
often  of  the  most  elaborate  type.  This  is  particu- 
larly true  where  the  prisoners  are  charged  with 
political  offences.     I  deal  with  this  aspect  of  affairs 


"I  WILL  WHIP  YOU  WITH  SCOKPIONS"    191 

more  in  detail  in  later  chapters,  so  that  there  is  no 
need  of  me  to  bring  proof  at  this  point. 

After  the  police  have  completed  their  case,  the 
prisoner  is  brought  before  the  procurator,  whose 
office  would,  if  rightly  used,  be  a  check  on  the 
police.  But  in  many  cases  the  police  act  as  procu- 
rators in  Korea,  and  in  others  the  procurators  and 
police  work  hand  in  hand. 

When  the  prisoner  is  brought  before  the  court  he 
has  little  of  the  usual  protection  afforded  in  a  Brit- 
ish or  American  Court.  It  is  for  him  to  prove  his 
innocence  of  the  charge.  His  judge  is  the  nominee 
of  the  Government-General  and  is  its  tool,  who 
practically  does  what  the  Government-General  tells 
him.  The  complaint  of  the  most  sober  and  experi- 
enced friends  of  the  Koreans  is  that  they  cannot 
obtain  justice  unless  it  is  deemed  expedient  by  the 
authorities  to  give  them  justice. 

Under  this  system  crime  has  enormously  in- 
creased. The  police  create  it.  The  best  evidence 
of  this  is  contained  in  the  official  figures.  In  the 
autumn  of  1912  Count  Terauchi  stated,  in  answer 
to  the  report  that  thousands  of  Korean  Christians 
had  been  confined  in  jail,  that  he  had  caused  en- 
quiry to  be  made  and  there  were  only  287  Koreans 
confined  in  the  various  jails  of  the  country  (New 
York  Sun,  October  3,  1912).  The  Count's  fig- 
ures were  almost  certainly  incorrect,  or  else  the 
police  released  all  the  prisoners  on  the  day  the 
reckoning  was  taken,  except  the  necessary  few  kept 
for  effect.     The  actual  number  of  convicts  in  Korea 


192  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

in  1912  was  close  on  twelve  thousand,  according  to 
the  official  details  published  later.  If  they  were 
true  they  make  the  contrast  with  later  years  the 
more  amazing. 

The  increase  of  arrests  and  convictions  is  shown 
in  the  following  official  return. 


Number  of  Koreans  Imprisoned 

Convicts 

Awaiting  trial 

Total 

1911 

7,342 

9,465 

16,807 

1912 

9,652 

9,842 

19,494 

1913 

11,652 

10,194 

21,846 

1914 

12,962 

11,472 

24,434 

1915 

14,411 

12,844 

27,255 

1916 

17,577 

15,259 

32,836 

Individual  liberty  is  non-existent.  The  life  of 
the  Korean  is  regulated  down  to  the  smallest  detail. 
If  he  is  rich,  he  is  generally  required  to  have  a 
Japanese  steward  who  will  supervise  his  expendi- 
ture. If  he  has  money  in  the  bank,  he  can  only 
draw  a  small  sum  out  at  a  time,  unless  he  gives 
explanation  why  he  needs  it. 

He  has  not  the  right  of  free  meeting,  free  speech 
or  a  free  press.  Before  a  paper  or  book  can  be 
published  it  has  to  pass  the  censor.  This  censor- 
ship is  carried  to  an  absurd  degree.  It  starts  with 
school  books;  it  goes  on  to  every  word  a  man  may 
write  or  speak.  It  applies  to  the  foreigners  as  well 
as  Koreans.  The  very  commencement  day 
speeches  of  school  children  are  censored.  The 
Japanese  journalist  in  Korea  who  dares  to  criticize 
the    administration    is    sent   to   prison    almost   as 


"I  WILL  WHIP  YOU  WITH  SCOKPIONS"    193 

quickly  as  the  Korean.  Japanese  newspaper  men 
have  found  it  intolerable  and  have  gone  back  to 
Japan,  refusing  to  work  under  it.  There  is  only 
one  newspaper  now  published  in  Korea  in  the 
Korean  language,  and  it  is  edited  by  a  Japanese. 
An  American  missionary  published  a  magazine, 
and  attempted  to  include  in  it  a  few  mild  comments 
on  current  events.  He  was  sternly  bidden  not  to 
attempt  it  again.  Old  books  published  before  the 
Japanese  acquired  control  have  been  freely  des- 
troyed. Thus  a  large  number  of  school  books — 
not  in  the  least  partizan — prepared  by  Professor 
Hulbert  were  destroyed. 

The  most  ludicrous  example  of  censorship  gone 
mad  was  experienced  by  Dr.  Gale,  one  of  the  oldest, 
most  learned  and  most  esteemed  of  the  mission- 
aries in  Korea.  Dr.  Gale  is  a  British  subject.  For 
a  long  time  he  championed  the  Japanese  cause, 
until  the  Japanese  destroyed  his  confidence  by  their 
brutalities  in  1919.  But  the  fact  that  Dr.  Gale  was 
their  most  influential  friend  did  not  check  the  Japa- 
nese censors.  On  one  occasion  Dr.  Gale  learned 
that  some  Korean  "  Readers  "  prepared  by  him  for 
use  in  schools  had  been  condemned.  He  enquired 
the  reason.  The  Censor  replied  that  the  book 
"  contained  dangerous  thoughts."  Still  more  puz- 
zled, the  doctor  politely  enquired  if  the  Censor 
would  show  the  passages  containing  "  dangerous 
thoughts."  The  Censor  thereupon  pointed  out  a 
translation  of  Kipling's  famous  story  of  the  ele- 
phant, which  had  been  included  in  the  book.     "  In 


194  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

that  story,"  said  he  ominously,  "  the  elephant  re- 
fused to  serve  his  second  master."  What  could  be 
more  obvious  that  Dr.  Gale  was  attempting  to 
teach  Korean  children,  in  this  subtle  fashion,  to 
refuse  to  serve  their  second  master,  the  Japanese 
Emperor! 

For  a  Korean  to  be  a  journalist  has  been  for  him 
to  be  a  marked  man  liable  to  constant  arrest,  not 
for  what  he  did  or  does,  but  for  what  the  police 
suppose  he  may  do  or  might  have  done.  The 
natural  result  of  this  has  been  to  drive  Koreans 
out  of  regular  journalism,  and  to  lead  to  the  crea- 
tion of  a  secret  press. 

The  next  great  group  of  grievances  of  Koreans 
come  under  the  head  of  Exploitation.  From  the 
beginning  the  Japanese  plan  has  been  to  take  as 
much  land  as  possible  from  the  Koreans  and  hand 
it  over  to  Japanese.  Every  possible  trick  has  been 
used  to  accomplish  this.  In  the  early  days  of  the 
Japanese  occupation,  the  favourite  plan  was  to 
seize  large  tracts  of  land  on  the  plea  that  they  were 
needed  for  the  Army  or  Navy;  to  pay  a  pittance  for 
them;  and  then  to  pass  considerable  portions  of 
them  on  to  Japanese.  "  There  can  be  no  ques- 
tion," admitted  Mr.  W.  D.  Stevens,  the  American 
member  and  supporter  of  Prince  Ito's  administra- 
tion, "  that  at  the  outset  the  military  authorities  in 
Korea  did  intimate  an  intention  of  taking  more 
land  for  their  uses  than  seemed  reasonable." 

The  first  attempt  of  the  Japanese  to  grab  in 
wholesale  fashion  the  public  lands  of  Korea,  under 


"I  WILL  WHIP  YOU  WITH  SCORPIONS »    195 

the  so-called  Nagamori  scheme,  aroused  so  much 
indignation  that  it  was  withdrawn.  Then  they  set 
about  accomplishing  the  same  end  in  other  ways. 
Much  of  the  land  of  Korea  was  public  land,  held  by 
tenants  from  time  immemorial  under  a  loose  sys- 
tem of  tenancy.  This  was  taken  over  by  the  Gov- 
ernment-General. All  leases  were  examined,  and 
people  called  on  to  show  their  rights  to  hold  their 
property.     This  worked  to  the  same  end. 

The  Oriental  Development  Company  was 
formed  for  the  primary  purpose  of  developing 
Korea  by  Japanese  and  settling  Japanese  on  Ko- 
rean land,  Japanese  immigrants  being  given  free 
transportation,  land  for  settlement,  implements  and 
other  assistance.  This  company  is  an  immense 
semi-official  trust  of  big  financial  interests  in  direct 
cooperation  with  the  Government,  and  is  supported, 
by  an  official  subsidy  of  £50,000  a  year.  Working 
parallel  to  it  is  the  Bank  of  Chosen,  the  semi-official 
banking  institution  which  has  been  placed  supreme 
and  omnipotent  in  Korean  finance. 

How  this  works  was  explained  by  a  writer  in  the 
New  York  Times  (January  29,  1919).  "These 
people  declined  to  part  with  their  heritage.  It  was 
here  that  the  power  of  the  Japanese  Government 
was  felt  in  a  manner  altogether  Asiatic.  .  .  . 
Through  its  branches  this  powerful  financial  insti- 
tution .  .  .  called  in  all  the  specie  in  the  coun- 
try, thus  making,  as  far  as  circulating  medium  is 
concerned,  the  land  practically  valueless.  In  order 
to  pay  taxes  and  to  obtain  the  necessaries  of  life, 


196  KOBEA'S  FIGHT  FOB  FBEEDOM 

the  Korean  must  have  cash,  and  in  order  to  obtain 
it,  he  must  sell  his  land.  Land  values  fell  very  rap- 
idly, and  in  some  instances  land  was  purchased  by 
the  agents  of  the  Bank  of  Chosen  for  one-fifth  of 
its  former  valuation."  There  may  be  some  dispute 
about  the  methods  employed.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  about  the  result.  One-fifth  of  the  richest 
land  in  Korea  is  to-day  in  Japanese  hands. 

Allied  to  this  system  of  land  exploitation  comes 
the  Corvee,  or  forced  labour  exacted  from  the 
country  people  for  road  making.  In  moderation 
this  might  be  unobjectionable.  As  enforced  by  the 
Japanese  authorities,  it  has  been  an  appalling  bur- 
den. The  Japanese  determined  to  have  a  system 
of  fine  roads.  They  have  built  them — by  the 
Corvee. 

The  most  convincing  evidence  for  outsiders  on 
this  land  exploitation  and  on  the  harshness  of  the 
Corvee  comes  from  Japanese  sources.  Dr.  Yo- 
shino,  a  professor  of  the  Imperial  University  of 
Tokyo,  salaried  out  of  the  Government  Treasury, 
made  a  special  study  of  Korea.  He  wrote  in  the 
Taschiw-Koron  of  Tokyo,  that  the  Koreans  have 
no  objection  to  the  construction  of  good  roads, 
but  that  the  official  way  of  carrying  out  the 
work  is  tyrannical.  "  Without  consideration  and 
mercilessly,  they  have  resorted  to  laws  for  the  ex- 
propriation of  land,  the  Koreans  concerned  being 
compelled  to  part  with  their  family  property  almost 
for  nothing.  On  many  occasions  they  have  also 
been  forced  to  work  in  the  construction  of  roads 


"I  WILL  WHIP  YOU  WITH  SCORPIONS"     197 

without  receiving  any  wages.  To  make  matters 
worse,  they  must  work  for  nothing  only  on  the  days 
which  are  convenient  to  the  officials,  however  in- 
convenient these  days  may  be  to  the  unpaid 
workers."  The  result  has  generally  been  that 
while  the  roads  were  being  built  for  the  convenient 
march  of  the  Japanese  troops  to  suppress  the 
builders  of  the  roads,  many  families  were  bank- 
rupted and  starving. 

"  The  Japanese  make  improvements,"  say  the 
Koreans.  "  But  they  make  them  to  benefit  their 
own  people,  not  us.  They  improve  agriculture, 
and  turn  the  Korean  farmers  out  and  replace  them 
by  Japanese.  They  pave  and  put  sidewalks  in  a 
Seoul  street,  but  the  old  Korean  shopkeepers  in 
that  street  have  gone,  and  Japanese  have  come. 
They  encourage  commerce,  Japanese  commerce, 
but  the  Korean  tradesman  is  hampered  and  tied 
down  in  many  ways."  Education  has  been  wholly 
Japanized.  That  is  to  say  the  primary  purpose  of 
the  schools  is  to  teach  Korean  children  to  be  good 
Japanese  subjects.  Teaching  is  mostly  done  in 
Japanese,  by  Japanese  teachers.  The  whole  ritual 
and  routine  is  towards  the  glorification  of  Japan. 

The  Koreans  complain,  however,  that,  apart 
from  this,  the  system  of  teaching  established  for 
Koreans  in  Korea  is  inferior  to  that  established  for 
Japanese  there.  Japanese  and  Korean  children  are 
taught  in  separate  schools.  The  course  of  educa- 
tion for  Koreans  is  four  years,  for  Japanese  six. 
The  number  of  schools  provided  for  Japanese  is 


198  KOBEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

proportionately  very  much  larger  than  for  Koreans, 
and  a  much  larger  sum  of  money  is  spent  on  them. 
The  Japanese  may  however  claim,  with  some  jus- 
tice, that  they  are  in  the  early  days  of  the  develop- 
ment of  Korean  education,  and  they  must  be  given 
more  time  to  develop  it.  Koreans  bitterly  complain 
of  the  ignoring  of  Korean  history  in  the  public 
schools,  and  the  systematic  efforts  to  destroy  old 
sentiments.  These  efforts,  however,  have  been 
markedly  unsuccessful,  and  the  Government  school 
students  were  even  more  active  than  mission  school 
students  in  the  Independence  movement. 

It  was  a  Japanese  journalist  who  published  the 
case  of  the  Principal  of  a  Public  School  for  girls 
who  roused  the  indignation  of  the  girls  under  him 
during  a  lecture  on  Ethics  with  the  syllogism, 
"  Savages  are  healthy;  Koreans  are  healthy;  there- 
fore Koreans  are  savages."  Other  teachers  roused 
their  young  pupils  to  fury,  after  the  death  of  the 
ex-Emperor,  by  employing  openly  of  him  the 
phrase  which  ordinarily  indicates  a  low-class  coolie. 
In  the  East,  where  honorifics  and  exact  designa- 
tions count  for  much,  no  greater  insults  could  be 
imagined. 

The  greatest  hardships  of  the  regime  of  the 
Government-General  have  been  the  denial  of  jus- 
tice, the  destruction  of  liberty,  the  shutting  out  of 
the  people  from  all  real  participation  in  administra- 
tion, the  lofty  assumption  and  display  of  a  spirit 
of  insolent  superiority  by  the  Japanese,  and  the 
deliberate  degradation  of  the  people  by  the  cultiva- 


"  I  WILL  WHIP  YOU  WITH  SCOKPIONS  "    199 

tion  of  vice  for  the  purpose  of  personal  profit.  In 
the  old  days,  opium  was  practically  unknown.  To- 
day opium  is  being  cultivated  on  a  large  scale  under 
the  direct  encouragement  of  the  Government,  and 
the  sale  of  morphia  is  carried  on  by  large  numbers 
of  Japanese  itinerant  merchants.  In  the  old  days, 
vice  hid  its  head.  To-day  the  most  prominent  fea- 
ture at  night-time  in  Seoul,  the  capital,  is  the  bril- 
liantly lit  Yoshiwara,  officially  created  and  run  by 
Japanese,  into  which  many  Korean  girls  are 
dragged.  Quarters  of  ill  fame  have  been  built  up 
in  many  parts  of  the  land,  and  Japanese  panders 
take  their  gangs  of  diseased  women  on  tours 
through  smaller  districts.  On  one  occasion  when 
I  visited  Sun-chon  I  found  that  the  authorities  had 
ordered  some  of  the  Christians  to  find  accommoda- 
tion in  their  homes  for  Japanese  women  of  ill  fame. 
Some  Koreans  in  China  sent  a  petition  to  the 
American  Minister  in  Peking  which  dealt  with 
some  moral  aspects  of  the  Japanese  rule  of  Korea. 
They  said : 

"The  Japanese  have  encouraged  immorality  by  re- 
moving Korean  marriage  restrictions,  and  allowing  mar- 
riages without  formality  and  without  regard  for  age. 
There  have  been  marriages  at  as  early  an  age  as  twelve. 
Since  the  annexation  there  have  been  80,000  divorce  cases 
in  Korea.  The  Japanese  encourage,  as  a  source  of  reve- 
nue, the  sale  of  Korean  prostitutes  in  Chinese  cities. 
Many  of  these  prostitutes  are  only  fourteen  and  fifteen 
years  old.  It  is  a  part  of  the  Japanese  policy  of  race  ex- 
termination, by  which  they  hope  to  destroy  all  Koreans. 
May  God  regard  these  facts. 

■  The  Japanese  Government  has  established  a  bureau 


200  KOBEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

for  the  sale  of  opium,  and  under  the  pretext  that  opium 
was  to  be  used  for  medicinal  purposes  has  caused  Ko- 
reans and  Formosans  to  engage  in  poppy  cultivation. 
The  opium  is  secretly  shipped  into  China.  Because  of 
the  Japanese  encouragement  of  this  traffic  many  Koreans 
have  become  users  of  the  drug. 

"  The  Japanese  forbid  any  school  courses  for  Koreans 
higher  than  the  middle  school  and  the  higher  schools  es- 
tablished by  missionary  organizations  are  severely  regu- 
lated. The  civilization  of  the  Far  East  originated  in 
China,  and  was  brought  first  to  Korea  and  thence  to 
Japan.  The  ancient  books  were  more  numerous  in 
Korea  than  in  Japan,  but  after  annexation  the  Japanese 
set  about  destroying  these  books,  so  that  Koreans  should 
not  be  able  to  learn  them.  This  '  burning  of  the  books 
and  murder  of  the  literati '  was  for  the  purpose  of  de- 
basing the  Koreans  and  robbing  them  of  their  ancient 
culture.     .     .     . 

"How  can  our  race  avoid  extermination?  Even  if 
the  Government  of  Japan  were  benevolent,  how  could 
the  Japanese  understand  the  aches  and  pains  of  another 
race  of  people?  With  her  evil  Government  can  there  be 
anything  but  racial  extermination  for  us  ?  " 

From  the  time  of  the  reopening  of  Korea  the 
Japanese  have  treated  the  Koreans  in  personal  in- 
tercourse as  the  dust  beneath  their  feet,  or  as  one 
might  imagine  a  crude  and  vixenish  tempered 
woman  of  peasant  birth  whose  husband  had  ac- 
quired great  wealth  by  some  freak  of  fortune  treat- 
ing an  unfortunate  poor  gentlewoman  who  had 
come  in  her  employment.  This  was  bad  enough 
in  the  old  days;  since  the  Japanese  acquired  full 
power  in  Korea  it  has  become  infinitely  worse. 

The  Japanese  coolie  punches  the  Korean  who 
chances  to  stand  in  his  august  path.     The  Japanese 


"I  WILL  WHIP  YOU  WITH  SCOBPIONS"     201 

woman,  wife  of  a  little  trader,  spits  out  the  one 
contemptuous  sentence  she  has  learned  in  the  Ko- 
rean tongue,  when  a  Korean  man  draws  near  on 
the  boat  or  on  the  train.  The  little  official  assumes 
an  air  of  ineffable  disdain  and  contempt.  A  mem- 
ber of  the  Japanese  Diet  was  reported  in  the  Japa- 
nese press  to  have  said  that  in  Korea  the  Japanese 
gendarmes  were  in  the  habit  of  exacting  from  the 
Korean  school  children  the  amount  of  deference 
which  in  Japan  would  be  proper  to  the  Imperial 
Household. 

The  lowest  Japanese  coolie  practices  the  right  to 
kick,  beat  and  cuff  a  Korean  of  high  birth  at  his 
pleasure,  and  the  Korean  has  in  effect  no  redress. 
Had  the  Koreans  from  the  first  have  met  blow  with 
blow,  a  number  of  them  no  doubt  would  have  died, 
but  the  Japanese  would  have  been  cured  of  the 
habit.  The  Korean  dislike  of  fighting,  until  he  has 
really  some  serious  reason  for  a  fight,  has  encour- 
aged the  Japanese  bully;  but  it  makes  the  bully's 
offence  none  the  less. 

Japanese  officials  in  many  instances  seem  to  de- 
light in  exaggerating  their  contempt  on  those 
under  them.  This  is  particularly  true  of  some  of 
the  Japanese  teachers.  Like  all  Government  offi- 
cials, these  teachers  wear  swords,  symbols  of 
power.  Picture  the  dignity  of  the  teacher  of  a 
class  of  little  boys  who  lets  his  sword  clang  to  ter- 
rify the  youngsters  under  him,  or  who  tries  to 
frighten  the  girls  by  displaying  his  weapon. 

The  iron  rule  of  Terauchi  was  followed  by  the 


202  KOKEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FKEEDOM 

iron  rule  of  Hasegawa,  his  successor.  The  strug- 
gle of  the  rebel  army  in  the  hills  had  died  down. 
But  men  got  together,  wondering  what  steps  they 
could  take.  Christians  and  non-Christians  found  a 
common  bond  of  union.  Their  life  had  come  to  a 
pass  where  it  was  better  to  die  than  to  live  under 
unchecked  tyranny.  Thus  the  Independence  move- 
ment came  into  being. 

The  Koreans  who,  despoiled  of  their  homes  or 
determined  to  submit  no  longer  to  Japan,  escaped 
into  Manchuria,  escaped  as  a  rule  by  the  difficult 
and  dangerous  journey  across  the  high  mountain 
passes.  What  this  journey  means  can  best  be  un- 
derstood from  a  report  by  the  Rev.  W.  T.  Cook,  of 
the  Manchuria  Christian  College  at  Moukden. 

"  The  untold  afflictions  of  the  Korean  immigrants  com- 
ing into  Manchuria  will  doubtless  never  be  fully  realized, 
even  by  those  actually  witnessing  their  distress.  In  the 
still  closeness  of  a  forty  below  zero  climate  in  the  dead 
of  winter,  the  silent  stream  of  white  clad  figures  creeps 
over  the  icy  mountain  passes,  in  groups  of  tens,  twenties 
and  fifties,  seeking  a  new  world  of  subsistence,  willing 
to  take  a  chance  of  life  and  death  in  a  hand-to-hand 
struggle  with  the  stubborn  soil  of  Manchuria's  wooded 
and  stony  hillsides.  Here,  by  indefatigable  efforts,  they 
seek  to  extract  a  living  by  applying  the  grub  axe  and 
hand  hoe  to  the  barren  mountain  sides  above  the  Chinese 
fields,  planting  and  reaping  by  hand  between  the  roots 
the  sparse  yield  that  is  often  insufficient  to  sustain  life. 

"  Many  have  died  from  insufficient  food.  Not  only 
women  and  children  but  young  men  have  been  frozen  to 
death.  Sickness  also  claims  its  toll  under  these  new 
conditions  of  exposure.  Koreans  have  been  seen  stand- 
ing barefooted  on  the  broken  ice  of  a  riverside  fording 


"I  WILL  WHIP  YOU  WITH  SCORPIONS"     203 

place,  rolling  up  their  baggy  trousers  before  wading 
through  the  broad  stream,  two  feet  deep,  of  ice  cold  water, 
then  standing  on  the  opposite  side  while  they  hastily 
readjust  their  clothing  and  shoes. 

"  Women  with  insufficient  clothing,  and  parts  of  their 
bodies  exposed,  carry  little  children  on  their  backs,  thus 
creating  a  mutual  warmth  in  a  slight  degree,  but  it  is  in 
this  way  that  the  little  ones'  feet,  sticking  out  from  the 
binding  basket,  get  frozen  and  afterwards  fester  till  the 
tiny  toes  stick  together.  Old  men  and  women,  with  bent 
backs  and  wrinkled  faces,  walk  the  uncomplaining  miles 
until  their  old  limbs  refuse  to  call  them  further. 

"  Thus  it  is  by  households  they  come,  old  and  young, 
weak  and  strong,  big  and  little.  .  .  .  Babies  have 
been  born  in  wayside  inns. 

"  In  this  way  over  75,000  Koreans  have  entered  dur- 
ing the  past  year,  until  the  number  of  Koreans  now  living 
in  both  the  north  and  western  portions  of  Manchuria  now 
totals  nearly  half  a  million."  ' 

1  Report  to  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 


XII 

THE  MISSIONARIES 

I  HAVE  had  occasion  in  previous  chapters  to 
make  occasional  reference  to  the  work  of  the 
missionaries  in  Korea.  It  is  necessary  now  to 
deal  with  them  in  detail,  for  they  had  become  one 
of  the  great  factors,  and  from  the  Japanese  point 
of  view  one  of  the  great  problems,  of  the  country. 

Long  before  Korea  was  open  to  the  outside 
world,  missionary  pioneers  tried  to  enter  it.  The 
French  Catholics  forced  admission  as  far  back  as 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  made  many 
converts,  who  were  afterwards  exterminated.  Gut- 
zaleff,  a  famous  Protestant  pioneer,  landed  on  an 
island  at  Basil's  Bay,  in  1832,  and  remained  there 
a  month,  distributing  Chinese  literature.  Mr. 
Thomas,  a  British  missionary,  secured  a  passage  on 
board  the  ill-fated  General  Sherman  in  1866,  and  was 
killed  with  the  rest  of  the  crew.  Dr.  Ross,  the 
Scottish  Presbyterian  missionary  of  Moukden, 
Manchuria,  became  interested  in  the  Koreans, 
studied  their  language,  talked  with  every  Korean 
he  could  find,  and  built  up  a  grammar  of  the  lan- 
guage, publishing  an  English-Korean  primer  in 
1876.     He  and  a   colleague,   Mr.   Mclntyre,   pub- 

204 


b  THE  MISSION AEIES  205 

lished  Gospels  in  the  language,  and  opened  up  a 
work  among  the  Koreans  on  the  north  side  of  the 
Yalu.  Those  who  can  recall  the  state  of  that  dis- 
trict in  the  days  before  railways  were  opened  and 
order  established,  can  best  appreciate  the  nerve 
and  daring  needed  for  the  task.  They  made  con- 
verts, and  one  of  these  converts  took  some  newly 
printed  Christian  books  and  set  back  home,  reach- 
ing Seoul  itself,  spreading  the  new  religion  among 
his  friends. 

It  was  two  years  after  the  opening  of  Korea  to 
the  West  before  the  first  missionary  arrived.  In 
18.8-i  Dr.  Allen,  a  Presbyterian  physician  (after- 
wards United  States  Minister  to  Korea),  arrived  at 
Seoul.  It  was  very  doubtful  at  this  time  how  mis- 
sionaries would  be  received,  or  how  their  converts 
would  be  treated.  The  law  enacting  death  against 
any  man  who  became  a  Christian  was  still  unre- 
pealed, but  it  was  not  enforced.  Officialism  might, 
however,  revive  it  at  any  time.  It  was  thought 
advisable,  when  the  first  converts  were  baptized  in 
1887,  to  perform  the  ceremony  behind  closed  doors, 
with  an  earnest  and  athletic  young  American  edu- 
cationalist, Homer  B.  Hulbert,  acting  as  guard. 

Dr.  Allen  was  soon  followed  by  others.  Dr. 
Underwood,  brother  of  the  famous  manufacturer  of 
typewriting  'machines,  was  the  first  non-medical 
missionary.  The  American  and  Canadian  Presby- 
terians and  Methodists  undertook  the  main  work, 
and  the  Church  of  England  set  up  a  bishopric. 
Women  missionary  doctors  came,  and  at  once  won 


206  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

7  a  place  for  themselves.  Names  like  Appenzeller, 
Scranton,  Bunker  and  Gale — to  name  a  few  of  the 
pioneers — have  won  a  permanent  place  in  the  his- 
tory of  missions. 

The  missionaries  found  a  land  almost  without 
religion,  with  few  temples  and  few  monks  or 
priests.  Buddhism  had  been  discredited  by  the 
treachery  of  some  Japanese-  Buddhists  during  the 
great  Japanese  invasion  by  Hideyoshi  in  1592,  and 
no  Buddhist  priest  was  allowed  inside  the  city  of 
Seoul.  Young  men  of  official  rank  studied  their 
Confucius  diligently,  but  to  them  Confucianism  was 
more  a  theory  for  the  conduct  of  life  and  a  road  to 
high  office  than  a  religion.  The  main  religion  of 
the  people  was  Shamanism,  the  fear  of  evil  spirits. 
It  darkened  their  souls,  as  the  tales  of  a  foolish 
nurse  about  goblins  darken  the  mind  of  a  sensitive 
and  imaginative  child.  The  spirits  of  Shamanism 
were  evil,  not  good,  a  curse,  not  a  blessing,  bring- 
ing terror,  not  hope. 

Christianity  was  very  fortunate  in  its  representa- 
tives. I  have  seen  much  of  the  missionaries  of 
Manchuria  and  Korea.  A  finer,  straighter  lot  of 
men  I  never  want  to  meet.  The  magnificent  cli- 
mate enables  them  to  keep  at  the  top  of  form. 
They  have  initiative,  daring  and  common  sense. 
Those  I  have  known  are  born  leaders,  who  would 
have  made  their  mark  anywhere,  in  business  or 
politics. 

In  the  early  days  they  had  to  be  ready  to  set 
their  hands  to  anything,  to  plan  and  build  houses 


THE  MISSIONAEIES  207 

and  churches,  to  open  schools,  to  run  a  boat  down 
dangerous  rapids  or  face  a  dangerous  mob,  to  over- 
awe a  haughty  yang-ban  or  break  in  a  dangerous 
horse.  They  were  the  pioneers  of  civilization  as 
well  as  of  Christianity. 

Religion  had  to  be  commended  by  the  courage  of 
its  adherents.  When  there  came  a  dangerous  up- 
rising, and  every  one  else  fled,  the  missionary  had 
to  stay  at  his  post.  When  an  epidemic  of  cholera 
or  yellow  fever  swept  over  a  district,  the  mission- 
ary had  to  act  as  doctor  or  nurse.  Sometimes  the 
missionary  died,  as  Dr.  Heron  died  at  Seoul  and 
McKenzie  at  Sorai.  Their  deaths  were  even  more 
effective  than  their  lives  in  winning  people. 

Dr.  Allen  gained  a  foothold  soon  after  his  arrival 
by  sticking  to  his  post  in  Seoul  during  the  uprising 
against  foreigners  that  followed  the  attack  by  the 
Japanese  and  the  reformers  on  the  Cabinet  and 
their  seizure  of  the  King  and  Queen.  When  Min 
Yung-ik,  the  Queen's  nephew,  was  badly  wounded, 
Dr.  Allen  attended  to  him  and  saved  his  life. 
Henceforth  the  King  was  the  missionaries'  friend. 
He  built  a  hospital  and  placed  Dr.  Allen  in  charge. 
Women  missionary  doctors  were  appointed  Court 
physicians  to  the  Queen. 

There  were  years  of  waiting,  when  the  converts 
were  few,  and  when  it  seemed  that  the  barriers  of 
four  thousand  years  never  would  be  broken  down. 
Then  came  the  Chino-Japanese  War.  Koreans 
were  forced  to  see  that  this  Western  civilization, 
which  had  enabled  little  Japan  to  beat  the  Chinese 


208  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FREEDOM 

giant,  must  mean  something.  A  young  man  from 
Indiana,  Samuel  Moffett,  with  a  companion,  Gra- 
ham Lee,  had  gone  some  time  before  to  Pyeng- 
yang,  reputedly  the  worst  city  in  Korea.  Here 
they  had  been  stoned  and  abused.  When  the  Chi- 
nese Army  came  to  Pyeng-yang,  and  the  country 
was  devastated  in  the  great  and  decisive  battle  be- 
tween the  Chinese  and  Japanese,  these  two  men 
stayed  by  the  Koreans  in  their  darkest  and  most 
perilous  hours.  Koreans  still  tell  how  "  Moksa  " 
Moffett  put  on  the  dress  of  a  Korean  mourner  and 
went  freely  around  despite  the  Chinese,  who  would 
have  almost  certainly  devised  a  specially  lingering 
death  for  him,  had  they  discovered  his  presence. 

"  There  must  be  something  in  this  religion/'  said 
the  Koreans.  Sturdy  old  John  Newton's  belief 
that  the  worst  sinner  makes  the  finest  saint  was 
borne  out  in  the  case  of  Pyeng-yang.  It  became  in 
a  few  years  one  of  the  greatest  scenes  of  missionary 
triumph  in  Asia.  The  harvest  was  ripening  now. 
In  Seoul  men  flung  into  jail  for  political  offences 
turned  to  prayer  in  the  darkness  and  despair  of 
their  torture  chambers,  and  went  to  death  praising 
God.  The  Secretary  to  the  King's  Cabinet 
preached  salvation  to  his  fellow  Cabinet  Ministers. 

The  tens  of  converts  grew  to  tens  of  thousands. 
From  the  first,  the  Koreans  showed  themselves  to 
be  Christians  of  a  very  unusual  type.  They  started 
by  reforming  their  homes,  giving  their  wives  lib- 
erty and  demanding  education  for  their  children. 
They  took  the  promises  and  commands  of  the  Bible 


THE  MISSIONARIES^  209 

literally  and  established  a  standard  of  conduct  for 
church  members  which,  if  it  were  enforced  in  some 
older  Christian  communities,  would  cause  a  serious 
contraction  of  the  church  rolls.  The  first  convert 
set  out  to  preach  to  his  friends.  Latter  converts 
imitated  his  example.  From  Pyeng-yang  the 
movement  spread  to  Sun-chon,  which  in  a  few 
years  rivalled  Pyeng-yang  as  a  Christian  centre. 
From  here  Christianity  spread  to  the  Yalu  and  up 
the  Tumen  River. 

The  Koreans  themselves  established  Christianity 
in  distant  communities  where  no  white  man  had 
ever  been.  Soon  many  of  the  missionaries  were 
kept  busy  for  several  months  each  year  travelling 
with  pack-pony  and  mafoo,  from  station  to  station 
in  the  most  remote  parts  of  the  country,  fording  and 
swimming  unbridged  rivers,  climbing  mountain 
passes,  inspecting  and  examining  and  instructing 
the  converts,  admitting  them  to  church  member- 
ship and  organizing  them  for  still  more  effective 
work. 

When  I  hear  the  cheap  sneers  of  the  obtuse  stay- 
at-home  or  globe-trotter  critics  against  mission- 
aries and  their  converts,  I  am  amused.  It  gives  me 
the  measure  of  the  men,  particularly  of  the  globe- 
trotters. When  the  British  and  American  Churches 
seek  to  send  out  missionaries,  the  British  and 
American  people  will  have  registered  the  sure  sign 
of  their  decadence.  For  the  Churches  and  nations 
will  then  cease  to  be  alive.  In  travelling  through 
the  north  country  I  employed  a  number  of  the 


210         [KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

Christian  converts.  I  found  them  clean  and  hon- 
est, good,  hard  workers,  men  who  showed  their 
religion  not  by  talk,  but  by  good,  straight  action. 
It  is  a  grief  to  me  to  know  that  some  of  these 
"  boys  "  have  since,  because  of  their  prominence 
as  Christian  workers,  been  the  victims  of  official 
persecution. 

Under  the  influence  of  the  missionaries  many 
schools  were  opened;  hospitals  and  dispensaries 
were  maintained,  and  a  considerable  literature, 
educational  as  well  as  religious,  was  circulated. 

When  the  Japanese  landed  in  Korea  in  1904,  the 
missionaries  welcomed  them.  They  knew  the  tyr- 
anny and  abuses  of  the  old  Government,  and  be- 
lieved that  the  Japanese  would  help  to  better 
things.  The  ill-treatment  of  helpless  Koreans  by 
Japanese  soldiers  and  coolies  caused  a  considerable 
reaction  of  feeling.  When,  however,  Prince  Ito 
became  Resident-General  the  prevailing  sentiment 
was  that  it  would  be  better  for  the  people  to  submit 
and  to  make  the  best  of  existing  conditions,  in  the 
hope  that  the  harshness  and  injustice  of  Japanese 
rule  would  pass. 

Most  of  the  Europeans  and  Americans  in  Korea 
at  the  time  adopted  this  line.  I  travelled  largely 
in  the  interior  of  Korea  in  1906  and  1907.  Groups 
of  influential  Koreans  came  to  me  telling  their 
grievances  and  asking  what  to  do.  Sometimes  big 
assemblies  of  men  asked  me  to  address  them. 
They  believed  me  to  be  their  friend,  and  were  will- 
ing to  trust  me.     My  advice  was  always  the  same. 


THE  MISSIONARIES  211 

"  Submit  and  make  yourselves  better  men.  You 
can  do  nothing  now  by  taking  up  arms.  Educate 
your  children,  improve  your  homes,  better  your 
lives.  Show  the  Japanese  by  your  conduct  and 
your  self-control  that  you  are  as  good  as  they  are, 
and  fight  the  corruption  and  apathy  that  helped  to 
bring  your  nation  to  its  present  position."  Let  me 
add  that  I  did  what  I  could  in  England,  at  the  same 
time,  to  call  attention  to  their  grievances. 

Prince  Ito  was  openly  sympathetic  to  the  mis- 
sionaries and  to  their  medical  and  educational 
work.  He  once  explained  why,  in  a  public  gather- 
ing at  Seoul.  "  In  the  early  years  of  Japan's  refor- 
mation, the  senior  statesmen  were  opposed  to  re- 
ligious toleration,  especially  because  of  distrust  of 
Christianity.  But  I  fought  vehemently  for  free- 
dom of  belief  and  religious  propaganda,  and  finally 
triumphed.  My  reasoning  was  this:  Civilization 
depends  on  morality  and  the  highest  morality  upon 
religion.  Therefore  religion  must  be  tolerated  and 
encouraged." 

Ito  passed  off  the  scene,  Korea  was  formally  an- 
nexed to  Japan,  and  Count  Terauchi  became  Gov- 
ernor-General. Terauchi  was  unsympathetic  to 
Christianity  and  a  new  order  of  affairs  began.  One 
of  the  difficulties  of  the  Christians  was  over  the 
direction  that  children  in  schools  and  others  should 
bow  before  the  picture  of  the  Japanese  Emperor  on 
feast  days.  The  Japanese  tried  to  maintain  to  the 
missionaries  that  this  was  only  a  token  of  respect; 
the  Christians  declared  that  it  was  an  act  of  adora- 


212  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

tion.  To  the  Japanese  his  Emperor  is  a  divine 
being,  the  descendant  of  the  gods. 

Christians  who  refused  to  bow  were  carefully 
noted  as  malignants.  In  the  famous  Conspiracy 
Case,  the  official  Assistant  Procurator,  in  urging 
the  conviction  of  one  of  the  men,  said :  "  He  was 
head  teacher  of  the  Sin-an  School,  Chong-ju,  and 
was  a  notorious  man  of  anti-Japanese  sentiments. 
He  was  the  very  obstinate  member  of  the  Society 
who,  at  a  meeting  on  the  first  anniversary  of  the 
birthday  of  the  Emperor  of  Japan  after  the  annexa- 
tion of  Korea,  refused  to  bow  before  the  Imperial 
picture  on  the  ground  that  such  an  act  was  wor- 
shipping an  image."  This  one  item  was  the  only 
fact  that  the  Assistant  Procurator  produced  to 
prove  the  head  teacher's  guilt.  He  was  convicted, 
and  awarded  seven  years'  penal  servitude. 

A  strong  effort  was  made  to  Japanize  the  Korean 
Churches,  to  make  them  branches  of  the  Japanese 
Churches,  and  to  make  them  instruments  in  the 
Japanese  campaign  of  assimilation.  The  mission- 
aries resisted  this  to  the  utmost.  They  declared 
that  they  would  be  neutral  in  political  matters,  as 
they  were  directed  by  their  Governments  to  be. 
Having  failed  to  win  them  over  to  their  side,  the 
Japanese  authorities  entered  into  a  campaign  for 
the  breaking  down  of  the  Churches,  particularly 
the  Presbyterian  Churches  of  the  north.  I  am  well 
aware  that  they  deny  this,  but  here  is  a  case  where 
actions  and  speeches  cannot  be  reconciled. 

Attempts   were   pushed   to   create   churches   of 


THE  MISSIONARIES  213 

Koreans  under  Japanese.  Son  Pyung-hi,  who 
had  proved  a  good  friend  of  Japan  during  the 
Chinese  War,  had  been  encouraged  by  the  Japa- 
nese some  time  before  to  start  a  religious  sect,  the 
Chon-do  Kyo,  which  it  was  hoped  would  replace 
Christianity,  and  prove  a  useful  weapon  for  Japan. 
Here  a  blunder  was  made,  for  later  on  Son  Pyung- 
hi  flung  all  his  influence  against  Japan  and 
worked  with  the  native  Christian  leaders  to  start 
the  Independence  movement.  More  important 
than  either  of  these  two  things,  however,  direct 
persecution  was  begun.  Several  hundred  Korean 
Christian  leaders  in  the  north  were  arrested,  and 
out  of  them  144  were  taken  to  Seoul,  tortured,  and 
charged  with  a  conspiracy  to  murder  the  Governor- 
General.  Various  missionaries  were  named  as 
their  partners  in  crime.  The  tale  of  the  conspiracy 
was  a  complete  fabrication  manufactured  by  the 
police.     I  describe  it  fully  in  the  next  chapter. 

Following  this  came  regulations  aimed  at  the 
missionary  schools  and  institutions.  At  the  time 
of  annexation,  almost  the  whole  of  the  real  modern 
education  of  Korea  was  undertaken  by  the  mission- 
aries, who  were  maintaining  778  schools.  A  series 
of  Educational  Ordinances  was  promulgated  in 
March,  1915,  directing  that  no  religious  teaching  is 
to  be  permitted  in  private  schools,  and  no  religious 
ceremonies  allowed  to  be  performed.  The  Japa- 
nese authorities  made  no  secret  of  their  intention 
of  eventually  closing  all  missionary  schools,  on  the 
ground  that  even  when  religious  teaching  was  ex- 


\s 


214  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

eluded,  pupils  were  influenced  by  their  teachers, 
and  the  influence  of  the  foreign  teachers  was 
against  the  Japanization  of  the  Koreans.  Mr.  Ko- 
matsu,  Director  of  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  Affairs, 
put  this  point  without  any  attempt  at  concealment, 
in  a  public  statement.  "  Our  object  of  education 
is  not  only  to  develop  the  intellect  and  morality  of 
our  people,  but  also  to  foster  in  their  minds  such 
national  spirit  as  will  contribute  to  the  existence 
and  welfare  of  our  Empire.  ...  I  sincerely 
hope  that  you  will  appreciate  this  change  of  the 
time  and  understand  that  missions  should  leave  all 
affairs  relating  entirely  to  education  entirely  in  the 
hands  of  the  Government,  by  transferring  the 
money  and  labour  they  have  hitherto  been  expend- 
ing on  education  to  their  proper  sphere  of  religious 
propagation.  .  .  .  Whatever  the  curriculum  of 
a  school  may  be,  it  is  natural  that  the  students  of 
that  school  should  be  influenced  by  the  ideas  and 
personal  character  of  its  principal  and  teachers. 
Education  must  be  decidedly  nationalistic  and  must 
not  be  mixed  up  with  religion  that  is  universal." 
This  is  a  much  harsher  regulation  against  missions 
than  prevails  in  Japan,  where  mission  schools  are 
allowed  to  continue  their  work,  with  freedom  to 
carry  on  their  religious  teaching. 

The  Government-General  agreed  to  allow  mis- 
sion schools  that  had  already  obtained  Govern- 
ment permits  to  continue  for  ten  years  without 
having  the  regulations  enforced.  Schools  that  had 
applied  for  the  permit  but  had  not   obtained  it, 


THE  MISSIONARIES  215 

owing  to  formal  official  delays,  were  ordered  to 
obey  or  close,  and  police  were  sent  to  see  that  they 
closed. 

The  Government  commanded  the  mission  schools 
to  cease  using  their  own  text-books  and  to  use  the 
officially  prepared  text-books.  These  are  carefully 
prepared  to  eliminate  "  dangerous  thoughts,"  i.  e., 
anything  that  will  promote  a  desire  for  freedom. 
They  directly  teach  ancestral  worship.  The  mis- 
sionaries have  protested  in  every  way  they  can. 
The  Government-General  is  adamant. 

Before  the  start  of  the  Independence  movement 
the  mission  schools  were  being  carefully  watched. 
Dr.  Arthur  J.  Brown  gives  one  example  of  their 
experiences,1  in  connection  with  the  graduating  ex- 
ercises at  the  Pyeng-yang  Junior  College  last  year. 

"  Four  students  made  addresses.  The  foreigners  pres- 
ent deemed  them  void  of  offence,  but  the  police  declared 
that  all  the  speakers  had  said  things  subversive  of  the 
public  good.  The  students  were  arrested,  interrogated 
and  then  released,  as  their  previous  records  had  been 
good.  The  provincial  chief  of  gendarmes,  however,  sum- 
moned the  students  before  him  and  again  investigated 
the  case.  The  president  of  the  college  was  called  to  the 
office,  and  strictly  charged  to  exercise  greater  care  in 
the  future.  The  matter  was  then  reported  to  the  Gov- 
ernor of  the  Province,  and  then  to  the  Governor-General. 
The  latter  wrote  to  the  president  of  the  college  that  the 
indiscretion  of  the  students  was  so  serious  that  the  Gov- 
ernment was  contemplating  closing  the  school.  A  similar 
communicaton  was  sent  by  the  Governor-General  to  the 
provincial  Governor,  who  thereupon  called  the  president 

1 "  The  Mastery  of  the  Far  East,"  by  Arthur  Judson  Brown. 


216  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

to  his  office,  and  said  that  unless  he  was  prepared  to  make 
certain  changes  the  school  would  have  to  close.  These 
changes  were  enumerated  as  follows:  (i)  Appointment 
of  a  Japanese  head  master;  (2)  dismissal  of  three  of 
the  boys  who  had  spoken;  relief  of  the  fourth  from  cer- 
tain assignments  of  teaching  which  he  was  doing  in  the 
academy,  and  promise  not  to  repeat  the  oratorical  pro- 
gram in  the  future;  (3)  secure  more  Japanese  teach- 
ers, especially  those  who  could  understand  Korean;  (4) 
do  all  teaching,  except  the  Chinese  classics,  Korean  lan- 
guage and  English,  through  the  medium  of  the  Japanese 
language;  prepare  syllabi  of  the  subjects  of  instruction, 
so  as  to  limit  it  to  specified  points,  teachers  not  to  de- 
viate from  them  nor  to  speak  on  forbidden  subjects;  (6) 
conform  to  the  new  regulations.  (That  is,  eliminate  all 
Christian  instruction.)  When  the  president  replied  that 
he  would  do  all  that  he  could  to  make  the  first  five 
changes  desired,  but  that  as  to  the  sixth  change,  the 
mission  preferred  to  continue  for  the  present  under  the 
old  permit  which  entitled  the  college  to  the  ten  year  period 
of  grace,  the  official  was  plainly  disappointed,  and  he 
intimated  that  number  six  was  the  most  important  of  all. " 

The  Independence  movement  in  1919  enor- 
mously increased  the  difficulties  of  the  missionaries, 
although  they  refrained  from  any  direct  or  indirect 
participation  in  it,  and  the  Koreans  carefully 
avoided  letting  them  know  anything  ahead  about 
it.  The  difficulties  of  the  missionaries,  and  the 
direct  action  of  the  authorities  against  Christianity 
at  that  time  is  told  later,  in  the  chapters  dealing 
with  the  movement. 

The  Japanese  authorities  will  probably  do  two 
things.  They  will  order  the  closing  of  schools 
under  various  pretexts  where  Christian  teaching  is 
still  maintained.     They  will  endeavour  to  secure 


THE  MISSIONAKIES  217 

the  elimination  of  those  missionaries  who  have 
shown  a  marked  sympathy  with  the  Korean  people. 
They  have  ample  powers  to  prosecute  any  mission- 
ary who  is  guilty  of  doing  anything  to  aid  disaffec- 
tion. They  have  repeatedly  searched  missionary 
homes  and  missionaries  themselves  to  find  evidence 
of  this.  Save  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Mowry,  who  was 
convicted  of  sheltering  some  students  wanted  by 
the  police,  they  have  failed.  Even  in  that  case  the 
original  conviction  has  been  quashed  on  appeal. 
Such  evidence  does  not  exist,  because  the  mission- 
aries have  been  really  neutral.  Neutrality  does 
not  satisfy  Japan;  she  wants  them  to  come  out  on 
her  side.  Unfortunately  her  action  this  year  has 
turned  many  away  from  her  who  tried  hard  up  to 
then  to  be  her  friends. 


XIII 

TORTURE  A  LA  MODE 

"t  |   AHE  main  thing,  when  you  are  tortured,  is 
to  remain  calm." 
-*•  The   Korean  spoke  quietly  and  in  a 

matter-of-fact  way.  He  himself  had  suffered  tor- 
ture in  its  most  severe  form.  Possibly  he  thought 
there  was  a  chance  that  I,  too,  might  have  a  per- 
sonal experience. 

H  Do  not  struggle.  Do  not  fight,"  he  continued. 
"  For  instance,  if  you  are  strung  up  by  the  thumbs 
and  you  struggle  and  kick  desperately,  you  may  die 
on  the  spot.  Keep  absolutely  still;  it  is  easier  to 
endure  it  in  this  way.  Compel  your  mind  to  think 
of  other  things." 

Torture!  Who  talks  of  torture  in  these  en- 
lightened days? 

Let  me  tell  you  the  tale  of  the  Conspiracy  Case, 
as  revealed  in  the  evidence  given  in  open  court, 
and  then  judge  for  yourself. 

When  the  heads  of  the  Terauchi  administration 
had  made  up  their  minds  that  the  northern  Chris- 
tians were  inimical  to  the  progress  of  the  Japanese 
scheme  of  assimilation,  they  set  their  spies  to  work. 
Now  the  rank  and  file  of  spies  are  very  much  alike 

218 


TOETUEE  A  LA  MODE  219 

in  all  parts  of  the  world.  They  are  ignorant  and 
often  misunderstand  things.  When  they  cannot 
find  the  evidence  they  require,  they  will  manufac- 
ture it. 

The  Japanese  spies  were  exceptionally  igno- 
rant. First  they  made  up  their  minds  that  the 
northern  Christians  were  plotting  against  Japan, 
and  then  they  searched  for  evidence.  They  at- 
tended church  services.  Here  they  heard  many 
gravely  suspicious  things.  There  were  hymns  of 
war,  like  "  Onward,  Christian  Soldiers  "  and  "  Sol- 
diers of  Christ  Arise."  What  could  these  mean 
but  that  Christians  were  urged  to  become  an  army 
and  attack  the  Japanese?  Dangerous  doctrines 
were  openly  taught  in  the  churches  and  mission 
schools.  They  learned  that  Mr.  McCune,  the  Sun- 
chon  missionary,  took  the  story  of  David  and  Go- 
liath as  the  subject  for  a  lesson,  pointing  out  that 
a  weak  man  armed  with  righteousness  was  more 
powerful  than  a  mighty  enemy.  To  the  spies,  this 
was  nothing  but  a  direct  incitement  to  the  weak 
Koreans  to  fight  strong  Japan.  Mission  premises 
were  searched.  Still  more  dangerous  material  was 
found  there,  including  school  essays,  written  by  the 
students,  on  men  who  had  rebelled  against  their 
Governments  or  had  fought,  such  as  George  Wash- 
ington and  Napoleon.  A  native  pastor  had 
preached  about  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven ;  this  was 
rank  treason.  He  was  arrested  and  warned  that 
"  there  is  only  one  kingdom  out  here,  and  that  is 
the  kingdom  of  Japan." 


220  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

In  the  autumn  of  1911  wholesale  arrests  were 
made  of  Christian  preachers,  teachers,  students  and 
prominent  church  members,  particularly  in  the 
provinces  of  Sun-chon  and  Pyeng-yang.  In  the 
Hugh  O'Neill,  Jr.,  Industrial  Academy,  in  Sun- 
chon,  one  of  the  most  famous  educational  establish- 
ments in  Korea — where  the  principal  had  made  the 
unfortunate  choice  of  David  and  Goliath  for  one  of 
his  addresses — so  many  pupils  and  teachers  were 
seized  by  the  police  that  the  school  had  to  close. 
The  men  were  hurried  to  jail.  They  were  not 
allowed  to  communicate  with  their  friends,  nor  to 
obtain  the  advice  of  counsel.  They  and  their 
friends  were  not  informed  of  the  charge  against 
them.  This  is  in  accordance  with  Japanese  crimi- 
nal law.  Eventually  149  persons  were  sent  to 
Seoul  to  be  placed  on  trial.  Three  were  reported 
to  have  died  under  torture  or  as  the  result  of  im- 
prisonment, twenty-three  were  exiled  without  trial 
or  released,  and  123  were  arraigned  at  the  Local 
Court  in  Seoul  on  June  28,  1912,  on  a  charge  of 
conspiracy  to  assassinate  Count  Terauchi,  Gov- 
ernor-General of  Korea. 

"  The  character  of  the  accused  men  is  signifi- 
cant," wrote  Dr.  Arthur  Judson  Brown,  an  author- 
ity who  can  scarcely  be  accused  by  his  bitterest 
critics  of  unfriendliness  to  Japan.  "  Here  were  no 
criminal  types,  no  baser  elements  of  the  popula- 
tion, but  men  of  the  highest  standing,  long  and  inti- 
mately known  to  the  missionaries  as  Koreans  of 
faith  and  purity  of  life,  and  conspicuous  for  their 


TOETUEE  A  LA  MODE  221 

good  influence  over  the  people.  Two  were  Con- 
gregationalists,  six  Methodists  and  eighty-nine 
Presbyterians.  Of  the  Presbyterians,  five  were 
pastors  of  churches,  eight  were  elders,  eight  dea- 
cons, ten  leaders  of  village  groups  of  Christians, 
forty-two  baptized  church  members,  and  thirteen 
catechumens.  .  .  .  It  is  about  as  difficult  for 
those  who  know  them  to  believe  that  any  such 
number  of  Christian  ministers,  elders  and  teachers 
had  committed  crime  as  it  would  be  for  the  people 
of  New  Jersey  to  believe  that  the  faculty,  students 
and  local  clergy  of  Princeton  were  conspirators  and 
assassins." 

Baron  Yun  Chi-ho,  the  most  conspicuous  of  the 
prisoners,  had  formerly  been  Vice  Foreign  Minister 
under  the  old  Korean  Government,  and  was  reck- 
oned by  all  who  knew  him  as  one  of  the  most  pro- 
gressive and  sane  men  in  the  country.  He  was  a 
prominent  Christian,  wealthy,  of  high  family,  a 
keen  educationalist,  vice-president  of  the  Korean 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,  had  travelled  largely,  spoke  English 
fluently,  and  had  won  the  confidence  and  good  will 
of  every  European  or  American  in  Korea  with 
whom  he  came  in  contact.  Yang  Ki-tak,  formerly 
Mr.  Bethell's  newspaper  associate,  had  on  this  ac- 
count been  a  marked  man  by  the  Japanese  police. 
He  had  been  previously  arrested  under  the  Peace 
Preservation  Act,  sentenced  to  two  years'  impris- 
onment and  pardoned  under  an  amnesty.  He  had? 
also  previously  been  examined  twice  in  connection 
with  the  charge  against  the  assassin  of  Prince  Ito, 


222  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FEEEDOM 

and  twice  on  account  of  the  attack  made  on  Yi,  the 
traitor  Premier,  but  had  each  time  been  acquitted. 
"  I  am  not  very  much  concerned  as  to  what  hap- 
pens to  me  now,"  he  said,  "  but  I  do  protest  against 
being  punished  on  a  charge  of  which  I  am  inno- 
cent." 

The  case  for  the  prosecution  was  based  on  the 
confessions  of  the  prisoners  themselves.  Accord- 
ing to  these  confessions,  a  body  of  Koreans,  in  as- 
sociation with  the  New  People's  Society,  headed  by 
[Baron  Yun  Chi-ho,  plotted  to  murder  General  Ter- 
auchi,  and  assembled  at  various  railway  stations  for 
that  purpose,  when  the  Governor-General  was 
travelling  northwards,  more  particularly  at  Sun- 
chon,  on  December  28,  1910.  They  were  armed 
with  ready  revolvers,  short  swords  or  daggers,  and 
were  only  prevented  from  carrying  out  their  pur- 
pose by  the  vigilance  of  the  gendarmerie. 

A  number  of  missionaries  were  named  as  their 
associates  or  sympathizers.  Chief  of  these  was 
Mr.  McCune,  who,  according  to  the  confessions, 
distributed  revolvers  among  the  conspirators  and 
told  them  at  Sun-chon  that  he  would  point  out  the 
right  man  by  shaking  hands  with  him.  Dr.  Mof- 
fett  of  Pyeng-yang,  Dr.  Underwood  of  Seoul, 
Bishop  Harris,  the  Methodist  Bishop  for  Japan  and 
Korea  who  had  long  been  conspicuous  as  a  de- 
fender of  the  Japanese  Administration,  and  a  num- 
ber of  other  prominent  missionaries  were  impli- 
cated. 

When  the  prisoners  were   faced  by  these  con- 


TOKTUKE  A  LA  MODE  223 

fessions  in  the  open  court  they  arose,  one  after 
another,  almost  without  exception,  and  declared 
either  that  they  had  been  forced  from  them  by  sus- 
tained and  intolerable  torture,  or  that  they  had  been 
reduced  by  torture  to  insensibility  and  then  on  re- 
covery had  been  told  by  the  Japanese  police  that 
they  had  made  the  confessions.  Those  who  had 
assented  under  torture  had  in  nearly  every  case 
said  "  Yes  "  to  the  statements  put  to  them  by  the 
police.  Now  that  they  could  speak,  they  stoutly 
denied  the  charges.  They  knew  nothing  of  any 
conspiracy.  The  only  man  who  admitted  a  mur- 
der plot  in  court  was  clearly  demented. 

The  trial  was  held  in  a  fashion  which  aroused 
immediate  and  wide-spread  indignation.  It  was 
held,  of  course,  in  Japanese,  and  the  official  trans- 
lator was  openly  charged  in  court  with  minimizing 
and  altering  the  statements  made  by  the  prisoners. 
The  judges  acted  in  a  way  that  brought  disgrace 
on  the  court,  bullying,  mocking  and  browbeating 
the  prisoners.  The  high  Japanese  officials  who  at- 
tended heartily  backed  the  sallies  of  the  bench. 

The  missionaries  who,  according  to  the  confes- 
sions, had  encouraged  the  conspirators  were  not 
placed  on  trial.  The  prisoners  urged  that  they 
should  be  allowed  to  call  them  and  others  as  wit- 
nesses, and  they  were  eager  to  come.  The  request 
was  refused.  Under  Japanese  law,  the  judges  have 
an  absolute  right  to  decide  what  witnesses  shall,  or 
shall  not  be  called.  The  prosecuting  counsel  de- 
nied the  charge  of  torture,  and  declared  that  all  of 


224  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

the  men  had  been  physically  examined  and  not  one 
of  them  had  even  a  sign  of  having  been  subjected 
to  such  ill-treatment.  Thereupon  prisoners  rose 
up  and  asked  to  be  allowed  to  show  the  marks  still 
on  them.  "  I  was  bound  up  for  about  a  month  and 
subjected  to  torture,"  said  one.  "  I  have  still 
marks  of  it  upon  my  body."  But  when  he  asked 
permission  to  display  the  marks  to  the  Court,  "  the 
Court,"  according  to  the  newspaper  reports, 
"  sternly  refused  to  allow  this  to  be  done." 

The  trial  closed  on  August  30th,  and  judgment 
was  delivered  on  September  21st.  Six  prisoners, 
including  Yun  Chi-ho  and  Yang  Ki-tak,  were  sen- 
tenced to  ten  years'  penal  servitude;  eighteen  to 
seven  years'  penal  servitude;  forty  to  six  years; 
forty-two  to  five  years;  and  seventeen  discharged. 

The  trial  was  widely  reported,  and  there  was  a 
wave  of  indignation,  particularly  in  America.  The 
case  was  brought  before  the  Court  of  Appeal,  and 
Judge  Suzuki,  who  heard  the  appeal,  was  given 
orders  by  the  Government-General  that  he  was  to 
act  in  conciliatory  fashion.  The  whole  atmosphere 
of  the  Court  of  Appeal  was  different.  There  was 
no  bullying,  no  browbeating.  The  prisoners  were 
listened  to  indulgently,  and  were  allowed  consider- 
able latitude  in  developing  their  defence.  Let  me 
add  that  both  in  the  first  and  in  subsequent  trials, 
prominent  Japanese  counsel  appeared  for  the  pris- 
oners, and  defended  them  in  a  manner  in  accord- 
ance with  the  best  traditions  of  the  law. 

The  prisoners  were  now  permitted  in  the  Appeal 


TOETURE  A  LA  MODE  225 

Court  to  relate  in  detail  how  their  "  confessions  " 
had  been  extracted  from  them  by  torture.  Here 
are  some  typical  passages  from  the  evidence. 

Chi  Sang-chu  was  a  Presbyterian,  and  a  clerk  by 
calling.     He  denied  that  he  was  guilty. 

All  my  confession  was  made  under  torture.  I 
did  not  make  these  statements  of  my  own  accord. 
The  police  said  they  must  know  what  information 
they  wanted.  They  stripped  me  naked,  tied  my 
hands  behind  my  back,  and  hung  me  up  in  a  door- 
way, removing  the  bench  on  which  I  stood.  They 
swung  me,  making  me  bump  against  a  door,  like  a 
crane  dancing.  When  I  lost  consciousness,  I  was 
taken  down  and  given  water,  and  tortured  again 
when  I  came  to. 

"  A  policeman  covered  my  mouth  with  my  hand, 
and  poured  water  into  my  nose.  Again  my  thumbs 
were  tied  behind  my  back,  one  arm  over  and  one 
under,  and  I  was  hung  up  by  the  cord  tying  them. 
A  lighted  cigarette  was  pressed  against  my  body, 
and  I  was  struck  in  my  private  parts.  Thus  I  was 
tortured  for  three  or  four  days.  One  evening,  just 
after  the  meal,  I  was  hung  up  again,  and  was  told 
that  I  would  be  released  if  I  confessed,  but  if  not  I 
would  be  tortured  till  I  died.  They  were  deter- 
mined to  make  me  say  whatever  they  wanted. 
Leaving  me  hanging,  the  policemen  went  to  sleep, 
and  I  fainted  from  the  torture  of  hanging  there. 

"  When  I  came  to,  I  found  myself  lying  on  the 
floor,  the  police  giving  me  water.  They  showed 
me  a  paper,  which  they  said  was  the  order  of  re- 


226  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

lease  for  Yi  Keun-tak  and  O  Hak-su,  who  had  con- 
fessed. If  I  wanted  to  be  set  at  liberty  I  must  do 
the  same.  Then  they  beat  me  again.  I  saw  the 
paper  and  managed  with  difficulty  to  read  it.  It 
was  to  the  effect  that  they  did  confess  and  promised 
never  to  do  such  things  again. 

"  I  was  then  introduced  to  Yi  Keun-tak,  who, 
they  said,  had  confessed  and  been  acquitted,  and 
they  urged  me  to  follow  Yi's  example.  I  urged 
them  to  treat  me  as  they  had  treated  Yi.  They 
told  me  what  to  confess,  but  as  I  had  never  heard 
of  such  things  I  refused,  and  they  said  they  had 
better  kill  me. 

"  They  resumed  their  tortures,  and  after  two  or 
three  months,  being  unable  to  bear  it  any  longer,  I 
confessed  all  that  is  required." 

Paik  Yong-sok,  a  milk  seller  and  a  Presbyterian, 
with  eleven  in  his  family,  said  he  had  been  a  Chris- 
tian for  fifteen  years  and  had  determined  only  to 
follow  the  teachings  of  the  Bible;  he  had  never 
thought  of  assassination  or  considered  establishing 
the  independence  of  the  country.  Having  to  sup- 
port a  family  of  eleven,  he  had  no  time  for  such 
things. 

He  had  made  the  confession  recited  by  the 
Court,  but  it  was  under  compulsion  and  false. 
"  For  a  number  of  days  I  was  tortured  twice  by  day 
and  twice  by  night.  I  was  blindfolded,  hung  up, 
beaten.  Often  I  fainted,  being  unable  to  breathe. 
I  thought  I  was  dying  and  asked  the  police  to  shoot 
me,  so  intolerable  were  my  tortures.     Driven  be- 


TORTURE  A  LA  MODE  227 

yond  the  bounds  of  endurance  by  hunger,  thirst  and 
pain,  I  said  I  would  say  whatever  they  wanted. 

"  The  police  told  me  that  I  was  of  no  account 
among  the  twenty  million  Koreans,  and  they  could 
kill  or  acquit  me  as  they  pleased.  .  .  .  Mean- 
while five  or  six  police  dropped  in  and  said,  '  Have 
you  repented?  Did  you  take  part  in  the  assassina- 
tion plots?  '  It  was  too  much  for  me  to  say  '  Yes  ' 
to  this  question,  so  I  replied  '  No/  Immediately 
they  slapped  my  cheeks,  stripped  me,  struck,  beat 
and  tormented  me.  It  is  quite  beyond  my  power 
to  describe  the  difficulty  of  enduring  such  pain." 

The  man  paused  and  pointed  to  a  Japanese, 
Watanabe  by  name,  sitting  behind  the  judges. 
"  That  interpreter  knows  all  about  it,"  he  said. 
"  He  was  one  of  the  men  who  struck  me."  Wata- 
nabe was  pointed  out  by  other  prisoners  as  a  man 
who  had  been  prominent  in  tormenting  them. 

Im  Do-myong,  a  barber  and  a  Presbyterian,  also 
fell  into  the  hands  of  experts  at  the  game. 

"  At  the  police  headquarters,  I  was  hung  up, 
beaten  with  an  iron  rod  and  tortured  twice  a  day. 
Then  I  was  taken  into  the  presence  of  superiors, 
the  interpreter  (pointing  out  Watanabe,  who  was 
sitting  behind  the  judges)  being  present,  and  tor- 
tured again. 

"  My  thumbs  were  tied  together  at  my  back,  the 
right  arm  being  put  back  over  the  shoulder  and  the 
left  arm  turned  up  from  underneath.  Then  I  was 
hung  up  by  the  cord  that  bound  my  thumbs.  The 
agony    was    unendurable.     I    fainted,    was    taken 


228  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOB  FEEEDOM 

down,  was  given  torture,  and  when  I  came  to  was 
tortured  again." 

By  the  Court:  "  It  would  be  impossible  to  hang 
you  by  your  thumbs." 

Prisoner :  "  My  great  toes  scarcely  touched  the 
ground.  Under  such  circumstances  I  was  told  to 
say  the  same  thing  at  the  Public  Procurator's  Of- 
fice, and  as  I  feared  that  I  should  be  tortured  there, 
too,  I  said  *  Yes  '  to  all  questions." 

Some  variety  was  introduced  into  the  treatment 
of  Cho  Tok-chan,  a  Presbyterian  pastor,  at 
Chong-ju. 

"  The  police  asked  me  how  many  men  took  part 
in  the  attempt  at  Sun-chon,  saying  that  as  I  was  a 
pastor  I  must  know  all  about  it.  They  hung,  beat 
and  struck  me,  saying  that  I  had  taken  part  in  the 
plot  and  was  a  member  of  the  New  People's  Soci- 
ety. At  last  I  fainted,  and  afterwards  was  unable 
to  eat  for  a  number  of  days. 

"  A  policeman  in  uniform,  with  one  stripe, 
twisted  my  fingers  with  a  wire,  so  that  they  were 
badly  swollen  for  a  long  time  after.  Then  a  man 
with  two  white  stripes  tortured  me,  declaring  that 
I  had  taken  part  in  the  Sun-chon  affair.  I  said  that 
I  was  too  busy  with  Christmas  preparations  to  go 
anywhere,  on  which  the  policeman  severely  twisted 
my  fingers  with  an  iron  rod." 

Again  came  one  of  the  dramatic  pauses,  while  the 
prisoner  pointed  out  a  Japanese  official  sitting  be- 
hind the  judges,  Tanaka  by  name.  "  The  man 
who  interpreted  at  that  time  is  sitting  behind  you," 
he  declared.     "  He  knows  it  very  well." 


TORTURE  A  LA  MODE  229 

They  extracted  his  confession.  But  it  was  some 
time  before  he  had  been  able  to  sign  it;  his  fingers 
were  hurt  too  severely. 

It  was  necessary,  after  the  police  examination, 
for  prisoners  to  repeat  their  stories  or  confirm 
them  before  the  procurator.  This  might  originally 
have  been  intended  as  a  protection  for  the  pris- 
oners. In  Korea  police  and  procurators  worked 
together.  However,  steps  were  taken  to  prevent 
any  retraction  at  that  point. 

"  When  I  was  taken  to  the  Public  Procurator's 
Office,"  continued  the  Presbyterian  pastor,  "  I  did 
not  know  the  nature  of  the  place,  and  being  put  in 
a  separate  room,  I  feared  that  it  might  be  an  even 
more  dreadful  place  than  the  police  headquarters. 
Generally,  when  examined  at  the  police  headquar- 
ters, my  hands  were  free,  but  here  I  was  brought 
up  for  cross-examination  with  my  hands  and  arms 
pinioned  very  firmly,  so  I  thought  it  must  be  a 
harder  place.  Moreover,  an  official  pulled  me  very 
hard  by  the  cords  which  bound  my  hands,  which 
gave  me  excruciating  pain,  seeing  how  they  had 
already  been  treated  by  the  police." 

The  next  prisoner,  Yi  Mong-yong,  a  Presbyte- 
rian money  lender,  also  pointed  out  the  proud 
Tanaka.  He  had  been  describing  how  the  police 
kicked  and  struck  him  to  make  him  say  what  they 
wanted.  "  One  of  them  is  behind  you  now,"  said 
he  to  the  judges,  pointing  to  Tanaka. 

Some  of  the  prisoners  broke  down  while  giving 
their  evidence.  Unimas  described  how  he  had 
been  hung,  beaten,  stripped  and  tortured  by  the 


230  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FREEDOM 

police,  and  again  tortured  in  the  office  of  the  Public 
Procurator.  "  Having  got  so  far,"  the  reports  con- 
tinue, "  the  prisoner  began  to  weep  and  make  a  loud 
outcry,  saying  that  he  had  a  mother  who  was  eighty 
years  old  at  home.  With  this  pitiful  scene,  the 
hearing  ended  for  the  day." 

Yi  Tai-kyong  was  a  teacher.  The  police  re- 
minded him  that  the  murderer  of  Prince  Ito  was  a 
Christian ;  he  was  a  Christian,  therefore — 

"  They  hung,  beat  and  otherwise  tormented  me, 
until  I  was  compelled  to  acknowledge  all  the  false 
fabrication  about  the  plot.  The  following  day  I 
was  again  taken  into  Mr.  Yamana's  room  and  again 
tortured  with  an  iron  rod  from  the  stove  and  other 
things,  until  I  had  acknowledged  all  the  false  state- 
ments. 

"  When  asked  what  was  the  party's  signal,  I  re- 
mained silent,  as  I  knew  nothing  about  it.  But  I 
was  tortured  again,  and  said,  '  the  church  bell,'  that 
being  the  only  thing  I  could  think  of  at  the  time." 

"  I  confessed  to  the  whole  prosecution  story,  but 
only  as  the  result  of  torture,  to  which  I  was  sub- 
mitted nine  times,  fainting  on  two  occasions,  and 
being  tortured  again  on  revival,"  said  Pak  Chou- 
hyong.  "  I  made  my  false  confession  under  a 
threat  that  I  and  my  whole  family  would  be  killed. 
I  reiterated  it  at  the  Public  Procurator's  Office, 
where  I  was  conducted  by  two  policemen,  one  of 
them  a  man  with  a  gold  tooth,  who  boxed  my  ears 
so  hard  that  I  still  feel  the  pain,  and  who  told  me 
not  to  vary  my  story. 

"  Fearing  that  my  whole  family  would  be  tor- 


TORTURE  A  LA  MODE  231 

tured,  I  agreed.  But  when  I  arrived  before  the 
Public  Procurator,  I  forgot  what  I  had  been  taught 
to  say,  and  wept,  asking  the  officials  to  read  what 
I  had  to  confess.  This  they  did,  and  I  said,  *  Yes, 
yes/  " 

Choi  Che-kiu,  a  petty  trader,  repudiated  his  con- 
fession of  having  gone  with  a  party  to  Sun-chon. 

"  Had  such  a  large  party  attempted  to  go  to  the 
station,"  he  said,  "  they  must  infallibly  have  been 
arrested  on  the  first  day.  Were  I  guilty  I  would 
be  ready  to  die  at  once.  The  whole  story  was  in- 
vented by  officials,  and  I  was  obliged  to  acquiesce 
in  it  by  severe  torture.  One  night  I  was  taken  to 
Nanzan  hill  by  two  policemen,  suspended  from  a 
pine  tree  and  a  sharp  sword  put  to  my  throat. 
Thinking  I  was  going  to  be  killed,  I  consented  to 
say  *  Yes  '  to  any  question  put  to  me." 

"  No  force  can  make  you  tell  such  a  story  as  this, 
unless  you  consent  voluntarily,"  interposed  the 
Court. 

"  You  may  well  say  that,"  replied  the  prisoner, 
grimly.  "  But  with  the  blade  of  a  sword  in  my  face 
and  a  lighted  cigarette  pressed  against  my  body,  I 
preferred  acquiescence  in  a  story,  which  they  told 
me  that  Kim  Syong  had  already  confessed,  to 
death." 

The  prisoner  paused,  and  the  Judge  looked  at 
him  with  his  head  on  one  side.  Suddenly  the 
prisoner  burst  into  a  passion  of  weeping,  with  loud, 
incoherent  cries.  -. 

In  the  previous  trial  one  of  the  prisoners,  Kim 
Ik-kyo,  was  asked  why  he  admitted  all  the  facts  at 


232  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

his  preliminary  examination.  "  If  the  police  were 
to  go  down  Chong-no  (one  of  the  busiest  streets  in 
Seoul),"  he  replied,  "  and  indiscriminately  arrest  a 
number  of  passers-by,  and  then  examine  them  by 
putting  them  to  torture,  I  am  sure  they  would  soon 
confess  to  having  taken  part  in  a  plot." 

The  same  thing  was  put  in  another  way  by  a 
prisoner,  Kim  Eung-pong.  He  related  a  long  story 
of  torture  by  binding,  hanging,  beating  and  burn- 
ing, continued  for  fifteen  days,  during  which  he  was 
often  threatened  with  death.  Then  he  was  taken 
to  the  "  supreme  enquiry  "  office  of  the  police  head- 
quarters, where  he  was  stripped  naked  and  beaten 
with  an  iron  bar  from  the  stove.  This  office,  he 
understood,  had  control  and  power  of  life  or  death 
over  the  whole  peninsula,  so  he  was  compelled  to 
confess  all  that  they  wanted.  "  I  even  would  have 
said  that  I  killed  my  father,  if  they  put  it  to  me," 
he  added. 

Hear  the  tale  of  An  Sei-whan.  As  An  was  called 
up  in  the  Appeal  Court,  a  wave  of  pity  passed  over 
the  white  men  there,  for  An  was  a  miserable  object, 
pale  and  emaciated.  He  was  a  consumptive  and 
afflicted  with  other  ills.  He  had  been  in  the  Chris- 
tian Hospital  at  Pyeng-yang  most  of  the  winter, 
and  had  nearly  died  there.  He  had  been  walking  a 
little  for  a  few  days,  when  he  was  arrested  at  the 
hospital  in  April.     He  had  been  vomiting  blood. 

"  In  this  condition  I  was  taken  to  the  police  head- 
quarters and  tortured.  My  thumbs  were  hung  to- 
gether and  I  was  hung  up,  with  my  toes  barely 
touching  the  ground.     I  was  taken  down  nearly 


TOETUEE  A  LA  MODE  233 

dead,  and  made  to  stand  for  hours  under  a  chest 
nearly  as  high  as  my  chest.  Next  day,  when  I  was 
put  under  the  shelf  again  my  hair  was  fastened  to 
the  board,  and  my  left  leg  doubled  at  the  knee  and 
tied.  Blood  came  up  from  my  lung,  but  fearful  of 
the  police  I  swallowed  it.  Now,  I  think  it  would 
have  been  better  if  I  had  vomited  it.  Then  they 
might  have  had  pity  on  me;  but  I  did  not  think  so 
then. 

"Ag«iin  I  was  hung  up  by  the  thumbs,  clear  of 
the  floor  this  time.  At  the  end  of  five  minutes  I 
was  nearly  dead.  I  asked  if  it  would  do  to  assent 
to  their  questions,  and  they  took  me  down  and 
took  me  before  some  superiors.  When  I  said  any- 
thing unsatisfactory  I  was  beaten,  and  in  this  way 
learned  what  was  wanted.  I  had  no  wish  to  deny 
or  admit  anything,  only  to  escape  further  pain." 

He  asked  that  some  of  the  missionaries  who  knew 
him  might  be  called,  to  show  that  he  was  too  ill 
to  take  part  in  any  conspiracy. 

One  old  man,  Yi  Chang-sik,  a  Presbyterian  for 
sixteen  years,  had  refused  even  under  the  torture 
to  confess,  and  had  tried  to  escape  by  suicide.  "  I 
thought  that  I  had  better  commit  suicide  than  be 
killed  by  their  cruel  tortures,"  he  said.  "They 
asked  me  if  I  had  joined  the  conspiracy  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  Mr.  McCune.  I  would  not  consent  to 
this,  so  they  tortured  me  harder.  I  was  nearly 
naked,  and  so  cold  water  was  poured  upon  me.  I 
was  also  beaten.  Sometimes  I  would  be  tortured 
till  the  early  hours  of  the  morning. 

"  I  longed  for  death  to  deliver  me.     Thanks  to 


234  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

heaven,  I  found  a  knife  one  night  in  my  room.  The 
warder  was  not  very  careful  with  me.  I  took  it 
secretly,  intending  to  cut  my  throat — but  my  hand 
had  become  too  weak.  So  I  stuck  it  erect  in  the 
floor,  and  tried  to  cut  my  throat  that  way.  Alas! 
At  this  moment  the  warder  surprised  me.  When 
I  had  endured  torture  for  over  forty  days,  I  asked 
them  to  make  me  guilty  or  innocent  as  quickly  as 
possible.  When  I  was  taken  to  the  Public  Proc- 
urator's, I  had  pains  in  my  ears,  body  and  limbs. 
I  could  not  stand  the  torture  and  wanted  to  die." 

"  Having  got  so  far,"  wrote  a  spectator,  "  the  old 
man  broke  down  and  began  to  weep,  crying  louder 
and  louder.  He  said  something  as  he  wept,  but  the 
interpreter  could  not  make  out  what  it  was.  The 
Court  evidently  pitied  him  and  told  him  to  stand 
down.     He  withdrew,  sobbing." 

A  Presbyterian  student  from  Sun-chon,  Cha 
Heui-syon,  was  arrested  and  kept  for  four  months 
in  the  gendarmes  office,  becoming  very  weak. 
Then  he  was  taken  to  the  police  headquarters. 

"  First  I  was  hung  up  by  my  thumbs,  then  my 
hands  and  legs  were  tied,  and  I  was  made  to  crouch 
under  a  shelf  about  as  high  as  my  chest,  which  was 
intensely  painful,  as  I  could  neither  sit  nor  stand. 
Something  was  put  in  my  mouth.  I  vomited  blood, 
yet  I  was  beaten.  I  was  stood  up  on  a  bench  and 
tied  up  so  that  when  it  was  removed,  I  was  left 
hanging.  The  interpreter  who  has  often  been  in 
this  court  (Watanabe)  tortured  me.  My  arms 
stiffened  so  that  I  could  not  stretch  them.  As  I 
hung  I  was  beaten  with  bamboos  three  or  four  feet 


TORTURE  A  LA  MODE  235 

long  and  with  an  iron  rod,  which  on  one  occasion 
made  the  hand  of  the  official  who  was  wielding  it 
bleed." 

At  last  he  gave  in.  He  was  too  weak  to  speak. 
They  took  him  down  and  massaged  his  arms,  which 
were  useless.  He  could  only  nod  now  to  the  state- 
ments that  they  put  to  him.  Later  on  they  took 
him  to  the  Public  Procurator.  Here  he  attempted 
to  deny  his  confession.  "  The  Public  Procurator 
was  very  angry,"  he  said.  "  He  struck  the  table, 
getting  up  and  sitting  down  again.  He  jerked  the 
cord  by  which  my  hands  were  tied,  hurting  me  very 
severely." 

The  case  of  Baron  Yun  Chi-ho  excited  special 
interest.  The  Baron  being  a  noble  of  high  family, 
the  police  used  more  care  in  extracting  his  con- 
fession. He  was  examined  day  after  day  for  ten 
days,  the  same  questions  being  asked  and  denied 
day  after  day.  One  day  when  his  nerves  were  in 
shreds,  they  tortured  another  prisoner  in  front  of 
his  eyes,  and  the  examiner  told  him  that  if  he  would 
not  confess,  he  was  likely  to  share  the  same  fate. 
They  told  him  that  the  others  had  confessed  and 
been  punished;  a  hundred  men  had  admitted  the 
facts.  He  did  not  know  then  that  the  charge 
against  him  was  conspiracy  to  murder.  He  de- 
termined to  make  a  false  confession,  to  escape 
torture.  He  was  worn  out  with  the  ceaseless  ques- 
tioning, and  he  was  afraid. 

The  rehearing  in  the  Court  of  Appeal  lasted 
fifty-one  days.  In  the  last  days  many  of  the  pris- 
oners were  allowed  to  speak  for  themselves.     They 


236  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

made  a  very  favourable  impression.  Judgment 
was  delivered  on  March  20th.  The  original  judg- 
ment was  quashed  in  every  case,  and  the  cases  re- 
considered. Ninety-nine  of  the  prisoners  were 
found  not  guilty.  Baron  Yun  Chi-ho,  Yang  Ki- 
tak  and  four  others  were  convicted.  Eive  of  them 
were  sentenced  to  six  years'  penal  servitude,  and 
one  to  five  years.  Two  other  appeals  were  made, 
but  the  only  result  was  to  increase  the  sentence  of 
the  sixth  man  to  six  years.  Three  of  the  men  finally 
convicted  had  been  members  of  the  staff  of  the  Dai 
Han  Mai  II  Shinpo.  The  Japanese  do  not  forget  or 
forgive  readily.  They  had  an  old  score  to  pay 
against  the  staff  of  that  paper. 

I  have  never  yet  met  a  man,  English,  American 
or  Japanese,  acquainted  with  the  case,  or  who  fol- 
lowed the  circumstances,  who  believed  that  there 
had  been  any  plot  at  all.  The  whole  thing,  from 
first  to  last,  was  entirely  a  police-created  charge. 
The  Japanese  authorities  showed  later  that  they 
themselves  did  not  believe  it.  On  the  coronation 
of  the  Japanese  Emperor,  in  February,  1915,  the 
six  prisoners  were  released  as  a  sign  of  "  Imperial 
clemency."  Baron  Yun  Chi-ho  was  appointed 
Secretary  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  at  Seoul  on  his  release, 
and  Count  Terauchi  (whom  he  was  supposed  to 
have  plotted  to  murder)  thereupon  gave  a  liberal 
subscription  to  the  Y.  funds. 

There  was  one  sequel  to  the  case.  The  Secre- 
tary of  the  Korean  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  Mr.  Gillett,  having 
satisfied  himself  of  the  innocence  of  Baron  Yun  and 
his  associates,  while  the  trial  was  pending,  sent  a 


TORTURE  A  LA  MODE  237 

letter  to  prominent  people  abroad,  telling  the  facts. 
The  letter,  by  the  indiscretion  of  one  man  who  re- 
ceived it,  was  published  in  newspapers.  The  Japa- 
nese authorities,  in  consequence,  succeeded  in  driv- 
ing Mr.  Gillett  out  of  Korea.  Before  driving  him 
out,  they  tried  to  get  him  to  come  over  on  their 
side.  Mr.  Komatsu,  Director  of  the  Bureau  for 
Foreign  Affairs,  asked  him  and  Mr.  Gerdine,  the 
President,  to  call  on  him.  "  The  Government  has 
met  the  demands  of  the  missionary  body  and  re- 
leased ninety-nine  out  of  the  hundred  and  five  pris- 
oners who  stood  trial  at  the  Appeal  Court,"  said 
Mr.  Komatsu.  "  It  is  to  be  expected  that  the  mis- 
sionary body  will  in  return  do  something  to  put  the 
Government  in  a  strong  and  favourable  light  before 
the  people  of  Japan."  Mr.  Komatsu  added  that 
Judge  Suzuki's  action  was  in  reality  the  action  of 
the  Government-General,  a  quaint  illustration  of 
the  independence  of  the  judiciary  in  Korea. 

The  Administration  made  a  feeble  attempt  to 
deny  the  tortures.  Its  argument  was  that  since 
torture  was  forbidden  by  law,  it  could  not  take 
place.     Let  we  quote  the  official  statement: 

"A  word  should  be  added  in  reference  to  the  ab- 
surd rumours  spread  abroad  concerning  it  (the 
conspiracy  case)  such  as  that  the  measures  taken 
by  the  authorities  aimed  at  '  wiping  out  the  Chris- 
tian movement  in  Korea/  since  the  majority  of  the 
accused  were  Christian  converts,  and  that  most  of 
the  accused  made  '  false  confessions  against  their 
will/  as  they  were  subject  to  l  unendurable  ill- 
treatment    or    torture.'     As    if    such    imputations 


238  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

could  be  sustained  for  one  minute,  when  the  mod- 
ern regime  ruling  Japan  is  considered!  ...  As 
to  torture,  several  provisions  of  the  Korean  crim- 
inal code  indirectly  recognized  it,  but  the  law  was 
revised  and  those  provisions  were  rescinded  when 
the  former  Korean  law  courts  were  reformed,  by- 
appointing  to  them  Japanese  judicial  staffs,  in 
August,  1908.  .  .  .  According  to  the  new  crim- 
inal law  (judges,  procurators  or  police)  officials 
are  liable,  if  they  treat  accused  prisoners  with  vio- 
lence or  torture,  to  penal  servitude  or  to  imprison- 
ment for  a  period  not  exceeding  three  years.  In 
reply  to  the  memorial  presented  to  the  Governor- 
General  by  certain  missionaries  in  Korea,  in  Jan- 
uary, 1912,  he  said,  ■  I  assure  you  that  the  entire 
examination  of  the  suspected  persons  or  witnesses 
is  being  conducted  in  strict  compliance  with  the 
provisions  of  the  law,  and  the  slightest  divergence 
from  the  lawful  process  will  under  no  circum- 
stances be  permitted/  How  then  could  any  one 
imagine  that  it  was  possible  for  officials  under  him 
to  act  under  any  other  way  than  in  accordance 
with  the  provisions  of  the  law." 

Unfortunately  for  the  noble  indignation  of  the 
writer,  the  torture  left  its  marks,  and  many  men 
are  living  as  I  write  still  bearing  them.  Others 
only  escaped  from  the  hell  of  the  Japanese  prison  in 
Seoul  to  die.  They  were  so  broken  that  they  never 
recovered. 


XIV 
THE  INDEPENDENCE  MOVEMENT 

THE  people  of  Korea  never  assented  to  the 
annexation  of  their  country.  The  Japa- 
nese control  of  means  of  communication 
prevented  their  protests  from  being  fully  known  by 
the  outside  world. 

It  was  explained  that  the  movement  against  the 
Japanese  was  due  to  the  work  of  Koreans  living 
outside  of  the  land  and  to  foreign  agitators.  The 
Japanese  blamed  the  missionaries.  They  blamed 
foreign  publicists.  I  understand  that  I  was  and  am 
esteemed  a  special  malignant.  They  never  thought 
to  blame  themselves.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  mis- 
sionaries and  the  rest  of  us  had  nothing  to  do  with 
it.  The  real  origin  of  the  movement  was  among 
the  people  themselves,  and  it  was  fostered,  not  by 
outsiders,  but  by  the  iron  and  unjust  rule  of  Japan. 

At  the  same  time,  the  Koreans  living  in  freedom 
were  naturally  concerned  over  conditions  at  home. 
The  large  Korean  communities  in  Manchuria  and 
Siberia,  estimated  to  number  in  all  two  millions,  the 
flourishing  colony  in  the  United  States  and  Hawaii, 

239 


240  KOKEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FREEDOM 

the  Koreans  in  Mexico  and  China  heard  with  indig- 
nation of  what  was  happening.  Young  students 
and  political  prisoners  released  after  torture,  who 
escaped  to  America,  fanned  the  flame  to  white  heat. 
The  Koreans  living  outside  Korea  formed  a  Na- 
tional Association,  with  headquarters  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, under  the  Presidency  of  Dr.  David  Lee, 
which  in  1919  claimed  a  million  and  a  half  ad- 
herents. 

The  steps  taken  by  the  Japanese  to  suppress  and 
prevent  discontent  often  created  and  fostered  it. 
This  was  specially  illustrated  in  the  schools.  The 
new  educational  system,  with  its  constant  inculca- 
tion of  loyalty  to  the  Mikado,  made  even  the  little 
girls  violently  Nationalist.  School  children  were 
spied  upon  for  incipient  treason  as  though  the  lisp- 
ing of  childish  lips  might  overthrow  the  throne. 
The  speeches  of  boys  and  girls  in  junior  schools,  at 
their  school  exercises,  were  carefully  noted,  and  the 
child  who  said  anything  that  might  be  construed  by 
the  Censor  as  "  dangerous  thought "  would  be 
arrested,  examined  and  punished. 

The  effect  of  this  was  what  might  have  been  ex- 
pected. "  They  compel  us  to  learn  Japanese,"  said 
one  little  miss,  sagely.  "That  does  not  matter. 
We  are  now  able  to  understand  what  they  say. 
They  cannot  understand  what  we  say.  All  the 
better  for  us  when  the  hour  comes."  On  Inde- 
pendence Day  the  children,  particularly  in  the  Gov- 
ernment schools,  were  found  to  be  banded  together 
and  organized  against  Japan.     They  had  no  fear  in 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  MOVEMENT         241 

expressing   their   views    and    sought    martyrdom. 
Some  of  them  won  it. 

The  Japanese  hoped  much  from  the  Chon-do 
Kyo,  a  powerful  movement  encouraged  by  the 
authorities  because  they  thought  that  it  would  be 
a  valuable  counteractive  to  Christianity.  Its  leader 
was  Son  Pyung-hi,  an  old  Korean  friend  of  Japan. 
As  far  back  as  1894,  when  the  Japanese  arranged 
the  Tong-hak  Rebellion  in  Korea,  to  give  them  an 
excuse  for  provoking  war  with  China,  Son  was  one 
of  their  leading  agents.  He  believed  that  Western 
influence  and  in  particular  Western  religion  was  * 
inimical  to  his  country,  and  he  hoped  by  the  Tong- 
haks  to  drive  them  out. 

As  a  result  of  his  activities,  he  had  to  flee  from 
Korea,  and  he  did  not  return  until  1903.  He  be- 
came leader  of  the  Chon-do  Kyo,  the  Heavenly 
Way  Society,  a  body  that  tried  to  include  the  best 
of  many  religions  and  give  the  benefits  of  Christian 
organization  and  fellowship  without  Christianity. 
He  had  learned  many  things  while  in  exile,  and  was 
now  keen  on  reform  and  education.  Many  of  his 
old  Tong-hak  friends  rallied  around  him,  and  the 
Chon-do  Kyo  soon  numbered  considerably  over  a 
million  members. 

Son  realized  after  a  time  that  the  Japanese  were 
not  the  friends  but  the  enemies  of  his  people.  He 
made  no  violent  protestations.  He  still  maintained 
seemingly  good  relations  with  them.  But  his  or- 
ganization was  put  to  work.  His  agents  went  over 
the  country.     Each  adherent  was  called  on  to  give 


\J 


242  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

three  spoonfuls  of  rice  a  day.  Close  on  a  million 
dollars  was  accumulated.  Most  of  this  was  after- 
wards seized  by  the  Japanese. 

The  Chon-do  Kyo  and  the  native  Christian  lead- 
ers came  together.  The  Christian  pastors  had  up 
to  now  kept  their  people  in  check.  But  the  burden 
was  becoming  intolerable.  They  gave  the  mis- 
sionaries no  inkling  of  what  was  brewing.  They 
did  not  wish  to  get  them  in  trouble.  Their  real 
grief  was  that  their  action  would,  they  knew,  make 
it  harder  for  the  Churches. 

Two  remarkable  characters  took  the  lead  among 
the  Christians,  Pastor  Kil  and  Yi  Sang-jai.  Pastor 
Kil  of  Pyeng-yang  was  one  of  the  oldest  and  most 
famous  Christians  in  Korea.  He  had  become  a 
leader  in  the  early  days,  facing  death  for  his  faith. 
A  man  of  powerful  brain,  of  fine  character  and  with 
the  qualities  of  real  leadership,  he  was  looked  up  to 
by  the  people  as  British  Nonconformists  a  genera- 
tion ago  regarded  Charles  Spurgeon.  In  recent 
years  Kil  had  become  almost  blind,  but  continued 
his  work. 

I  have  already  described  in  an  earlier  chapter 
how  Yi  Sang-jai,  once  Secretary  to  the  Legation 
at  Washington,  became  a  Christian  while  thrown 
into  prison  for  his  political  views.  He  was  now  a 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  leader,  but  he  was  held  in  universal 
veneration  by  all  men — Christian  and  non-Chris- 
tian alike — as  a  saint,  as  a  man  who  walked  with 
God  and  communed  with  Him. 

When  things  seemed  rapidly  ripening,  President 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  MOVEMENT         243 

Wilson  made  his  famous  declaration  of  the  rights 
of  weaker  nations.  One  sentence  went  round 
among  the  Koreans,  and  its  effect  was  electrical. 

"  What  is  the  task  that  this  League  of  Nations 
is  to  do? 

"It  is  to  Provide  for  the  Freedom  of  Small  Na- 
tions, to  Prevent  the  Domination  of  Small  Nations 
by  Big  Ones." 

Here  was  the  clarion  call  to  Korea.  Here  was 
hope !  Here  was  the  promise  of  freedom,  given  by 
the  head  of  the  nation  they  had  all  learned  to  love. 
If  any  outsider  was  responsible  for  the  uprising  of 
the  Korean  people,  that  outsider  was  Woodrow 
Wilson,  President  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

"  Now  is  the  time  to  act,"  said  the  people.  For 
a  start,  they  resolved  to  send  delegates  to  present 
their  case  to  the  Paris  Conference.  Three  leaders 
in  America  were  chosen  but  were  refused  passports. 
Finally  another  young  leader,  Mr.  Kiusic  Kimm, 
succeeded  in  landing  in  France.  Perhaps  it  would 
not  be  wise  to  say,  at  this  time,  how  he  managed  to 
get  there.  He  soon  found  that  his  mission  was  in 
vain.  The  Paris  Conference  would  not  receive 
him.  President  Wilson's  declaration  was  not  to  be 
put  into  full  effect. 

The  people  resolved,  by  open  and  orderly  demon- 
stration, to  support  their  delegate  in  France.  There 
were  some  who  would  have  started  a  violent  revo- 
lution. The  Christians  would  have  none  of  it. 
"  Let  us  have  no  violence,"  said  they.  "  Let  us 
appeal  to  the  conscience  of  Japan  and  of  the  world." 


• 


244  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

There  were  no  constitutional  means  for  them  to 
employ  to  make  their  case  heard.  But  if  ever  there 
was  an  effort  at  peaceful  constitutional  change,  this 
was  it.  Instructions  were  sent  out,  surely  the  most 
extraordinary  instructions  ever  issued  under  simi- 
lar circumstances : — 

"  Whatever  you  do 

Do  Not  Insult  the  Japanese 

Do  Not  Throw  Stones 

Do  Not  Hit  With  Your  Fists. 

For  these  are  the  acts  of  barbarians." 

It  was  unnecessary  to  tell  the  people  not  to  shoot, 
for  the  Japanese  had  long  since  taken  all  their 
weapons  away,  even  their  ancient  sporting  blunder- 
busses. 

A  favourable  moment  was  approaching.  The 
old  Korean  Emperor  lay  dead.  One  rumour  was 
that  he  had  committed  suicide  to  avoid  signing  a 
document  drawn  up  by  the  Japanese  for  presenta- 
tion to  the  Peace  Conference,  saying  that  he  was 
well  satisfied  with  the  present  Government  of  his 
country.  Another  report,  still  more  generally  be- 
lieved, was  that  he  had  committed  suicide  to  pre- 
vent the  marriage  of  his  son,  Prince  Kon,  to  the 
Japanese  Princess  Nashinoto.  The  engagement  of 
this  young  Prince  to  a  Korean  girl  had  been  broken 
off  when  the  Japanese  acquired  control  of  the  Im- 
perial House.  Royal  romances  always  appeal  to 
the  crowd.     The  heart  of  the  people  turned  to  the 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  MOVEMENT         245 

old  Emperor  again.  Men,  women  and  children  put 
on  straw  shoes,  signs  of  national  mourning,  and  a 
hundred  thousand  people  flocked  to  Seoul  to  wit- 
ness the  funeral  ceremonies. 

The  funeral  was  to  take  place  on  March  4th.  By 
now  the  Japanese  suspected  something  to  be  afoot. 
The  astonishing  thing  is  that  the  Koreans  had  been 
able  to  keep  it  from  them  so  long.  A  network  of 
organizations  had  been  created  all  over  the  coun- 
try. The  Japanese  hurried  their  preparations  to 
prevent  popular  demonstrations  on  the  day  of  the 
funeral.  The  leaders  learned  of  this,  and  outwitted 
the  police  by  a  simple  device.  They  resolved  to 
make  their  demonstration  not  on  Tuesday,  March 
4th,  but  on  the  previous  Saturday. 

Gatherings  were  arranged  for  all  over  the  coun- 
try. A  Declaration  of  Independence  was  drawn  up 
in  advance  and  delivered  to  the  different  centres.. 
Here  it  was  mimeographed,  and  girls  and  boys 
organized  themselves  to  ensure  its  distribution. 
Meetings,  processions  and  demonstrations  in  all  the 
big  cities  were  planned. 

Thirty-three  men  chose  martyrdom.  They  were 
to  be  the  original  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence. They  knew  that  at  the  best  this  must 
mean  heavy  punishment  for  them,  and  at  the  worst 
might  well  mean  death.  They  had- no  delusions. 
Pastor  KiPs  son  had  died  from  the  effects  of  Japa- 
nese torture.  Yang  Chun-paik  and  Yi  Seung-hun, 
two  of  the  signers,  had  been  victims  in  the  Con- 
spiracy case.     The  first  two  names  on  the  list  of 


246  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

signers  were  Son  Pyung-hi,  leader  of  the  Chon-do 
Kyo,  and  Pastor  Kil. 

On  the  morning  of  March  1st  the  group  of  thirty- 
two  met  at  the  Pagoda  Restaurant  at  Seoul.  Pas- 
tor Kil  was  the  only  absentee;  he  had  been  tempo- 
rarily delayed  on  his  journey  from  Pyeng-yang. 

Some  prominent  Japanese  had  been  invited  to 
eat  with  the  Koreans.  After  the  meal,  the  Declara- 
tion was  produced  before  their  guests  and  read. 
It  was  despatched  to  the  Governor-General.  Then 
the  signers  rang  up  the  Central  Police  Station,  in- 
formed the  shocked  officials  of  what  they  had  done, 
and  added  that  they  would  wait  in  the  restaurant 
until  the  police  van  came  to  arrest  them. 

The  automobile  prison  van,  with  them  inside, 
had  to  make  its  way  to  the  police  station  through 
dense  crowds,  cheering  and  shouting,  "Mansei! 
Mansei !  Mansei !  "  It  was  the  old  national  battle 
cry,  "  May  Korea  live  ten  thousand  years."  Old 
flags  had  been  brought  out,  old  Korean  flags,  with 
the  red  and  blue  germ  on  the  white  ground,  and 
were  being  widely  waved.  "  Mansei!  "  Not  only 
Seoul  but  the  whole  country  had  in  a  few  minutes 
broken  out  in  open  demonstration.  A  new  kind  of 
revolt  had  begun. 

Pastor  Kil,  arriving  late,  hurried  to  the  police 
station  to  take  his  place  with  his  comrades. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  is  a  document 
impossible  to  summarize,  if  one  is  to  do  full  justice 
to  it.  It  is  written  in  the  lofty  tone  of  the  ancient 
prophets.     It  was  something  more  than  the  aspira- 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  MOVEMENT         247 

tion  of  the  Korean  people.  It  was  the  cry  of  the 
New  Asia,  struggling  to  find  its  way  out  of  oppres- 
sion and  mediaeval  militarism  into  the  promised 
land  of  liberty  and  peace. 

THE  PROCLAMATION  OF  KOREAN 
INDEPENDENCE 

"  We  herewith  proclaim  the  independence  of  Korea  and 
the  liberty  of  the  Korean  people.  We  tell  it  to  the  world 
in  witness  of  the  equality  of  all  nations  and  we  pass  it  on 
to  our  posterity  as  their  inherent  right. 

"  We  make  this  proclamation,  having  back  of  us  5,000 
years  of  history,  and  20,000,000  of  a  united  loyal  people. 
We  take  this  step  to  insure  to  our  children  for  all  time 
to  come,  personal  liberty  in  accord  with  the  awakening 
consciousness  of  this  new  era.  This  is  the  clear  leading 
of  God,  the  moving  principle  of  the  present  age,  the  whole 
human  race's  just  claim.  It  is  something  that  cannot  be 
stamped  out,  or  stifled,  or  gagged,  or  suppressed  by  any 
means. 

"  Victims  of  an  older  age,  when  brute  force  and  the 
spirit  of  plunder  ruled,  we  have  come  after  these  long 
thousands  of  years  to  experience  the  agony  of  ten  years 
of  foreign  oppression,  with  every  loss  to  the  right  to  live, 
every  restriction  of  the  freedom  of  thought,  every  dam- 
age done  to  the  dignity  of  life,  every  opportunity  lost  for 
a  share  in  the  intelligent  advance  of  the  age  in  which 
we  live. 

"  Assuredly,  if  the  defects  of  the  past  are  to  be  recti- 
fied, if  the  agony  of  the  present  is  to  be  unloosed,  if  the 
future  oppression  is  to  be  avoided,  if  thought  is  to  be  set 
free,  if  right  of  action  is  to  be  given  a  place,  if  we  are  to 
attain  to  any  way  of  progress,  if  we  are  to  deliver  our 
children  from  the  painful,  shameful  heritage,  if  we  are 
to  leave  blessing  and  happiness  intact  for  those  who 
succeed  us,  the  first  of  all  necessary  things  is  the  clear- 
cut  independence  of  our  people.  What  cannot  our  twenty 
millions  do,  every  man  with  sword  in  heart,  in  this  day 


248  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

when  human  nature  and  conscience  are  making  a  stand 
for  truth  and  right?  What  barrier  can  we  not  break, 
what  purpose  can  we  not  accomplish  ? 

"  We  have  no  desire  to  accuse  Japan  of  breaking  many 
solemn  treaties  since  1636,  nor  to  single  out  specially  the 
teachers  in  the  schools  or  government  officials  who  treat 
the  heritage  of  our  ancestors  as  a  colony  of  their  own, 
and  our  people  and  their  civilization  as  a  nation  of  sav- 
ages, finding  delight  only  in  beating  us  down  and  bring- 
ing us  under  their  heel. 

"  We  have  no  wish  to  find  special  fault  with  Japan's 
lack  of  fairness  or  her  contempt  of  our  civilization  and 
the  principles  on  which  her  state  rests;  we,  who  have 
greater  cause  to  reprimand  ourselves,  need  not  spend 
precious  time  in  finding  fault  with  others;  neither  need 
we,  who  require  so  urgently  to  build  for  the  future, 
spend  useless  hours  over  what  is  past  and  gone.  Our 
urgent  need  to-day  is  the  setting  up  of  this  house  of  ours 
and  not  a  discussion  of  who  has  broken  it  down,  or  what 
has  caused  its  ruin.  Our  work  is  to  clear  the  future  of 
defects  in  accord  with  the  earnest  dictates  of  conscience. 
Let  us  not  be  filled  with  bitterness  or  resentment  over 
past  agonies  or  past  occasions  for  anger. 

"  Our  part  is  to  influence  the  Japanese  government, 
dominated  as  it  is  by  the  old  idea  of  brute  force  which 
thinks  to  run  counter  to  reason  and  universal  law,  so 
that  it  will  change,  act  honestly  and  in  accord  with  the 
principles  of  right  and  truth. 

"  The  result  of  annexation,  brought  about  without  any 
conference  with  the  Korean  people,  is  that  the  Japanese, 
indifferent  to  us,  use  every  kind  of  partiality  for  their 
own,  and  by  a  false  set  of  figures  show  a  profit  and  loss 
account  between  us  two  peoples  most  untrue,  digging  a 
trench  of  everlasting  resentment  deeper  and  deeper  the 
farther  they  go. 

"  Ought  not  the  way  of  enlightened  courage  to  be  to 
correct  the  evils  of  the  past  by  ways  that  are  sincere, 
and  by  true  sympathy  and  friendly  feeling  make  a  new 
world  in  which  the  two  peoples  will  be  equally  blessed? 

"  To  bind  by  force  twenty  millions  of  resentful  Ko- 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  MOVEMENT         249 

reans  will  mean  not  only  loss  of  peace  forever  for  this 
part  of  the  Far  East,  but  also  will  increase  the  ever- 
growing suspicion  of  four  hundred  millions  of  Chinese — 
upon  whom  depends  the  danger  or  safety  of  the  Far  East 
— besides  strengthening  the  hatred  of  Japan.  From  this 
all  the  rest  of  the  East  will  suffer.  To-day  Korean  in- 
dependence will  mean  not  only  daily  life  and  happiness 
for  us,  but  also  it  would  mean  Japan's  departure  from 
an  evil  way  and  exaltation  to  the  place  of  true  protector 
of  the  East,  so  that  China,  too,  even  in  her  dreams, 
would  put  all  fear  of  Japan  aside.  This  thought  comes 
from  no  minor  resentment,  but  from  a  large  hope  for 
the  future  welfare  and  blessing  of  mankind. 

"  A  new  era  wakes  before  our  eyes,  the  old  world  of 
force  is  gone,  and  the  new  world  of  righteousness  and 
truth  is  here.  Out  of  the  experience  and  travail  of  the 
old  world  arises  this  light  on  life's  affairs.  The  insects 
stifled  by  the  foe  and  snow  of  winter  awake  at  this  same 
time  with  the  breezes  of  spring  and  the  soft  light  of 
the  sun  upon  them. 

"  It  is  the  day  of  the  restoration  of  all  things  on  the 
full  tide  of  which  we  set  forth,  without  delay  or  fear. 
We  desire  a  full  measure  of  satisfaction  in  the  way  of 
liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  and  an  opportunity 
to  develop  what  is  in  us  for  the  glory  of  our  people. 

"  We  awake  now  from  the  old  world  with  its  darkened 
conditions  in  full  determination  and  one  heart  and  one 
mind,  with  right  on  our  side,  along  with  the  forces  of 
nature,  to  a  new  life.  May  all  the  ancestors  to  the 
thousands  and  ten  thousand  generations  aid  us  from 
within  and  all  the  force  of  the  world  aid  us  from  without, 
and  let  the  day  we  take  hold  be  the  day  of  our  attain- 
ment.   In  this  hope  we  go  forward. 

Three  Items  of  Agreement 

"  i.  This  work  of  ours  is  in  behalf  of  trutH,  religion 
and  life,  undertaken  at  the  request  of  our  people,  in 
order  to  make  known  their  desire  for  liberty.  Let  no 
violence  be  done  to  any  one. 


250  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

"  2.  Let  those  who  follow  us,  every  man,  all  the  time, 
every  hour,  show  forth  with  gladness  this  same  mind. 

"  3.  Let  all  things  be  done  decently  and  in  order,  so 
that  our  behaviour  to  the  very  end  may  be  honourable 
and  upright." 

The  4252nd  year  of  the  Kingdom  of  Korea  3d  Month 

Representatives  of  the  people. 
The  signatures  attached  to  the  document  are : 
Son  Pyung-hi,  Kil  Sun  Chu,  Yi  Pil  Chu,  Paik  Yong 
Sung,  Kim  Won  Kyu,  Kim  Pyung  Cho,  Kim  Chang 
Choon,  Kwon  Dong  Chin,  Kwon  Byung  Duk,  Na  Yong 
Whan,  Na  In  Hup,  Yang  Chun  Paik,  Yang  Han  Mook, 
Lew  Yer  Dai,  Yi  Kop  Sung,  Yi  Mung  Yong,  Yi  Seung 
Hoon,  Yi  Chong  Hoon,  Yi  Chong  II,  Lim  Yei  Whan, 
Pak  Choon  Seung,  Pak  Hi  Do,  Pak  Tong  Wan,  Sin 
Hong  Sik,  Sin  Suk  Ku,  Oh  Sei  Chang,  Oh  Wha  Young, 
Chung  Choon  Su,  Choi  Sung  Mo,  Choi  In,  Han  Yong 
Woon,  Hong  Byung  Ki,  Hong  Ki  Cho. 


XV 

THE  PEOPLE  SPEAK— THE  TYRANTS 
ANSWER 

ON  Saturday,  March  1st,  at  two  in  the  after- 
noon, in  a  large  number  of  centres  of 
population  throughout  the  country,  the 
Declaration  of  Korean  Independence  was  solemnly 
read,  usually  to  large  assemblies,  by  representative 
citizens.  In  some  places,  the  leaders  of  the  Chris- 
tians and  the  leaders  of  the  non-Christian  bodies 
acted  in  common.  In  other  places,  by  mutual 
agreement,  two  gatherings  were  held  at  the  same 
time,  the  one  for  Christians  and  the  other  for  non- 
Christians.  Then  the  two  met  in  the  streets,  and 
sometimes  headed  by  a  band  they  marched  down 
the  street  shouting  "  Mansei "  until  they  were  dis- 
persed. Every  detail  had  been  thought  out.  Large 
numbers  of  copies  of  declarations  of  independence 
were  ready.  These  were  circulated,  usually  by 
boys  and  schoolgirls,  sometimes  by  women,  each 
city  being  mapped  out  in  districts. 

It  was  soon  seen  that  every  class  of  the  com- 
munity was  united.  Men  who  had  been  ennobled 
by  the  Japanese  stood  with  the  coolies;  shop- 
keepers closed  their  stores,  policemen  who  had 
worked  under  the  Japanese  took  off  their  uniforms 

r 


252  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

and  joined  the  crowds,  porters  and  labourers, 
scholars  and  preachers,  men  and  women  all  came 
together. 

In  every  other  Korean  demonstration,  for  untold 
centuries,  only  part  of  the  nation  had  been  included. 
When  the  yang-bans  started  a  political  revolt,  in  the 
old  days,  they  did  not  recognize  that  such  a  thing 
as  popular  opinion  existed  and  did  not  trouble  to 
consult  it.  Korea  had  long  known  demonstrations 
of  great  family  against  great  family,  of  Yis  against 
Mins;  of  section  against  section,  as  when  the  Con- 
servatives fought  the  Progressives;  and  of  Inde- 
pendents against  the  old  Court  Gang.  But  now  all 
were  one.  And  with  the  men  were  the  women, 
and  even  the  children.  Boys  of  six  told  their  fathers 
to  be  firm  and  never  to  yield,  as  they  were  carried 
off  to  prison ;  girls  of  ten  and  twelve  prepared  them- 
selves to  go  to  jail. 

The  movement  was  a  demonstration,  not  a  riot. 
On  the  opening  day  and  afterwards — until  the 
Japanese  drove  some  of  the  people  to  fury — there 
was  no  violence.  The  Japanese,  scattered  all  over 
the  country,  were  uninjured;  the  Japanese  shops 
were  left  alone;  when  the  police  attacked,  elders 
ordered  the  people  to  submit  and  to  offer  no  re- 
sistance. The  weak  things  had  set  themselves  up 
to  confound  the  strong. 

At  first,  the  Japanese  authorities  were  so  com- 
pletely taken  by  surprise  that  they  did  not  know 
what  to  do.  Then  the  word  was  passed  round  that 
the  movement  was  to  be  suppressed  by  relentless 


PEOPLE  SPEAK— TYEANTS  ANSWEE      253 

severity.  And  so  Japan  lost  her  last  chance  of 
winning  the  people  of  Korea  and  of  wiping  out  the 
accentuated  ill-will  of  centuries. 

The  first  plan  of  the  Japanese  was  to  attack  every 
gathering  of  people  and  disperse  it,  and  to  arrest 
every  person  who  took  part  in  the  demonstrations 
or  was  supposed  to  have  a  hand  in  them.  Japanese 
civilians  were  armed  with  clubs  and  swords  and 
given  carte  blanche  to  attack  any  Korean  they  sus- 
pected of  being  a  demonstrator.  They  interpreted 
these  instructions  freely.  Firemen  were  sent  out 
with  poles  with  the  big  firemen's  hooks  at  the  end. 
A  single  pull  with  one  of  these  hooks  meant  death 
or  horrible  mutilation  for  any  person  they  struck. 

The  police  used  their  swords  freely.  What  I 
mean  by  "  freely  "  can  best  be  shown  by  one  inci- 
dent. A  little  gathering  of  men  started  shouting 
"  Mansei "  in  a  street  in  Seoul.  The  police  came 
after  them,  and  they  vanished.  One  man — it  is  not 
clear  whether  he  called  "  Mansei "  or  was  an  acci- 
dental spectator — was  pushed  in  the  deep  gutter  by 
the  roadside  as  the  demonstrators  rushed  away. 
As  he  struggled  out  the  police  came  up.  There 
was  no  question  of  the  man  resisting  or  not  resist- 
ing. He  was  unarmed  and  alone.  They  cut  off 
his  ears,  cut  them  off  level  with  his  cheek,  they  slit 
up  his  fingers,  they  hacked  his  body,  and  then  they 
left  him  for  dead.  He  was  carried  off  by  some 
horrified  spectators,  and  died  a  few  hours  later.  A 
photograph  of  his  body  lies  before  me  as  I  write. 
I  showed  the  photograph  one  evening  to  two  or 


254  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

three  men  in  New  York  City.  Next  day  I  met  the 
men  again.  "  We  had  nightmare  all  night  long, 
because  of  that  picture,"  they  told  me. 

In  Seoul,  when  the  thirty-three  leaders  were  ar- 
rested, a  demonstration  was  held  in  the  Park  and 
the  Declaration  read  there.  Then  the  crowd  made 
an  orderly  demonstration  in  the  streets,  waving 
flags  and  hats,  shouting  "  Mansei,"  parading  in 
front  of  the  Consulates  and  public  buildings,  and 
sending  letters  to  the  Consuls  informing  them  of 
'<  what  they  had  done.  There  was  no  violence.  The 
police,  mounted  and  foot,  tried  to  disperse  the 
crowds  and  made  numerous  arrests,  but  the  throngs 
were  so  dense  that  they  could  not  scatter  them. 

Next  day  was  Sunday.  Here  the  strong  Chris- 
tian influences  stopped  demonstrations,  for  the 
Korean  Christians  observe  the  Sunday  strictly. 
This  gave  the  Japanese  authorities  time  to  gather 
their  forces.  Numerous  arrests  were  made  that 
day,  not  only  in  Seoul  but  all  over  the  country.  On 
Monday  there  was  the  funeral  of  the  ex-Emperor. 
The  people  were  quiet  then.  It  was  noticed  that 
the  school  children  were  entirely  absent  from  their 
places  along  the  line  of  march.     They  had  struck. 

On  Wednesday  life  was  supposed  to  resume  its 
normal  aspects  again.  The  schools  reopened,  but 
there  were  no  pupils.  The  shops  remained  closed. 
The  coolies  in  official  employ  did  not  come  to  work. 
The  authorities  sent  police  to  order  the  shop- 
keepers to  open.  They  opened  while  the  police 
were  by,  and  closed  immediately  they  were  out  of 


PEOPLE  SPEAK— TYRANTS  ANSWER      255 

sight.  Finally  troops  were  placed  outside  the  shops 
to  see  that  they  remained  open.  The  shopkeepers 
sat  passive,  and  informed  any  chance  enquirer  that 
they  did  not  have  what  he  wanted.  This  continued 
for  some  weeks. 

The  authorities  were  specially  disturbed  by  the 
refusal  of  the  children  to  come  to  school.  In  one 
large  junior  school,  the  boys  were  implored  to  come 
for  their  Commencement  exercises,  and  to  receive 
their  certificates.  Let  me  tell  the  scene  that  fol- 
lowed, as  described  to  me  by  people  in  the  city. 
The  boys  apparently  yielded,  and  the  Commence- 
ment ceremonies  were  begun,  in  the  presence  of  a 
number  of  official  and  other  distinguished  Japanese 
guests.  The  precious  certificates  were  handed  out 
to  each  lad.  Then  the  head  boy,  a  little  fellow  of 
about  twelve  or  thirteen,  came  to  the  front  to  make 
the  school  speech  of  thanks  to  his  teachers  and  to 
the  authorities.  He  was  the  impersonation  of 
courtesy.  Every  bow  was  given  to  the  full;  he 
lingered  over  the  honorifics,  as  though  he  loved  the 
sound  of  them.  The  distinguished  guests  were  de- 
lighted. Then  came  the  end.  "  I  have  only  this 
now  to  say,"  the  lad  concluded.  A  change  came 
over  his  voice.  He  straightened  himself  up,  and 
there  was  a  look  of  resolution  in  his  eyes.  He 
knew  that  the  cry  he  was  about  to  utter  had 
brought  death  to  many  during  the  past  few  days. 
"  We  beg  one  thing  more  of  you."  He  plunged 
one  hand  in  his  garment,  pulled  out  the  Korean 
flag,  the  possession  of  which  is  a  crime.     Waving 


256  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

the  flag,  he  cried  out,  "  Give  us  back  our  country. 
May  Korea  live  forever.     Mansei!" 

All  the  boys  jumped  up  from  their  seats, 
each  one  pulling  out  a  flag  from  under  his  coat  and 
waved  it,  calling,  "  Mansei !  Mansei !  Mansei !  " 
They  tore  up  their  precious  certificates,  in  front  of 
the  now  horrified  guests,  threw  them  on  the 
ground,  and  trooped  out. 

At  nine  o'clock  that  Wednesday  morning  there 
was  a  great  demonstration  of  students  and  high 
school  girls  around  the  palace.  The  girls  had 
planned  out  their  part  ahead.  A  big  crowd  gath- 
ered around.  Then  a  large  force  of  police  rushed 
on  them,  with  drawn  swords,  knocking  down,  beat- 
ing and  arresting,  lads  and  girls  alike.  The  girls 
were  treated  as  roughly  as  the  men.  Over  four 
hundred,  including  one  hundred  girl  students,  were 
taken  to  the  police  station  that  morning.  What 
happened  to  the  girls  there,  I  tell  in  a  later  chapter. 
Fifteen  nurse-probationers  of  the  Severance  Hos- 
pital, one  of  the  most  famous  missionary  hospitals 
in  the  Far  East,  hurried  out  with  bandages  to  bind 
up  the  wounded.  The  police  took  them  in  custody 
also.  They  were  severely  examined,  to  find  if  the 
foreigners  had  instigated  them  to  take  part  in  the 
demonstrations,  but  were  released  the  same  after- 
noon. 

As  Prince  Yi  was  returning  from  the  ex-Em- 
peror's funeral  that  afternoon,  a  group  of  twenty 
literati  approached  his  carriage  and  attempted  to 
present   a   petition.     They   were   stopped   by    the 


PEOPLE  SPEAK— TYKANTS  ANSWEB      257 

police.  A  petition  was  sent  by  the  literati  to  the 
Governor-General;  the  delegates  were  told  to  take 
it  to  the  police  office.     Here  they  were  arrested. 

Two  of  the  most  famous  nobles  in  the  land,  Vis- 
count Kim  and  Viscount  Li,  sent  a  dignified  peti- 
tion to  the  Governor-General,  begging  him  to  listen 
to  the  people,  and  deploring  the  severe  measures 
taken  to  suppress  the  demonstrations.  Viscount 
Kim  was  senior  peer,  head  of  the  Confucian  Col- 
lege, and  had  ever  been  a  friend  of  Japan.  As  far 
back  as  1866,  he  had  run  the  risk  of  death  by  urging 
the  King  to  open  the  country  to  outside  nations  and 
to  conclude  a  treaty  with  Japan.  The  Japanese  had 
made  him  one  of  their  new  Korean  peerage.  He 
was  now  eighty-five,  feeble  and  bedridden.  The 
protest  of  himself  and  his  fellow  senior  was  meas- 
ured, polished,  moved  with  a  deep  sympathy  for 
the  people,  but  with  nothing  in  it  to  which  the  Gov- 
ernor-General should  have  taken  offence. 

The  Japanese  treatment  of  these  two  nobles  was 
crowning  proof  of  their  incapacity  to  rule  another 
people.  The  two  were  at  once  arrested,  and  with 
them  various  male  members  of  their  families. 
Kim  was  so  ill  that  he  could  not  be  immediately 
moved,  so  a  guard  was  placed  over  his  house.  All 
were  brought  to  trial  at  Seoul  in  July.  With  Vis- 
count Kim  were  Kim  Ki-ju,  his  grandson,  and  Kim 
Yu-mon.  With  Viscount  Li  was  his  relative  Li 
Ken-tai.  The  charge  against  them  was  of  violat- 
ing the  Peace  Preservation  Act.  Ki-ju  aggravated 
his  position  by  trying  to  defend  himself.     The  Japa- 


258  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

nese  press  reported  that  he  was  reported  to  "  have 
assumed  a  very  hostile  attitude  to  the  bench 
enunciating  this  theory  and  that  in  defence  of  his 
cause."  This  statement  is  the  best  condemnation 
of  the  trial.  Where  a  prisoner  is  deemed  to  add  to 
his  guilt  by  attempting  to  defend  himself,  justice 
has  disappeared. 

Viscount  Kim  was  sentenced  to  two  years'  penal 
servitude,  and  Viscount  Li  to  eighteen  months, 
both  sentences  being  stayed  for  three  years.  Kim 
Ki-ju,  Kim  Yu-mon  and  Li  Ken-tai  were  sentenced 
to  hard  labour  for  eighteen  months,  twelve  months 
and  six  months  respectively.  The  sentence  re- 
flected disgrace  on  the  Government  that  instituted 
the  prosecution  and  decreed  the  punishment. 

The  white  people  of  Seoul  were  horrified  by  the 
Japanese  treatment  of  badly  wounded  men  who 
flocked  to  the  Severance  Hospital  for  aid.  Some  of 
these,  almost  fatally  wounded,  were  put  to  bed. 
The  Japanese  police  came  and  demanded  that  they 
should  be  delivered  up  to  them.  The  doctors 
pointed  out  that  it  probably  would  be  fatal  to  move 
them.  The  police  persisted,  and  finally  carried  off 
three  men.  It  was  reported  that  one  man  they 
took  off  in  this  fashion  was  flogged  to  death. 

Reports  were  beginning  to  come  in  from  other 
parts.  There  had  been  demonstrations  through- 
out the  north,  right  up  to  Wiju,  on  the  Manchurian 
border.  At  Song-chon,  it  was  reported,  thirty  had 
been  killed,  a  number  wounded,  and  three  hundred 
arrested.     Pyeng-yang  had  been  the   centre  of  a 


PEOPLE  SPEAK— TYRANTS  ANSWER      259 

particularly  impressive  movement,  which  had  been 
sternly  repressed.  From  the  east  coast,  away  at 
Hameung,  there  came  similar  tidings.  The  Japa- 
nese stated  that  things  were  quiet  in  the  south  until 
Wednesday,  when  there  was  an  outbreak  at  Kun- 
san,  led  by  the  pupils  of  a  Christian  school.  The 
Japanese  at  once  seized  on  the  participation  of  the 
Christians,  the  press  declaring  that  the  American 
missionaries  were  at  the  bottom  of  it.  A  deliberate 
attempt  was  made  to  stir  up  the  Japanese  popula- 
tion ^gainst  the  Americans.  Numbers  of  houses  of 
American  missionaries  and  leaders  of  philanthropic 
work  were  searched.  Several  of  them  were  called 
to  the  police  offices  and  examined;  some  were 
stopped  in  the  streets  and  searched.  Unable  to 
find  any  evidence  against  the  missionaries,  the 
Japanese  turned  on  the  Korean  Christians.  Soon 
nearly  every  Korean  Christian  pastor  in  Seoul  was 
in  jail;  and  news  came  from  many  parts  of  the 
burning  of  churches,  the  arrest  of  leading  Chris- 
tians, and  the  flogging  of  their  congregations.  The 
Japanese  authorities,  on  pressure  from  the  Amer- 
ican consular  officials,  issued  statements  that  the 
missionaries  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  uprising, 
but  in  practice  they  acted  as  though  the  rising  were 
essentially  a  Christian  movement. 

In  the  country  people  were  stopped  by  soldiers 
when  walking  along  the  roads,  and  asked,  "Are  you 
Christians?  "  If  they  answered,  "  Yes,"  they  were 
beaten ;  if  "  No,"  they  were  allowed  to  go.  The 
local  gendarmes  told  the  people  in  many  villages 


260  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

that  Christianity  was  to  be  wiped  out  and  all  Chris- 
tians shot.  "  Christians  are  being  arrested  whole- 
sale and  beaten  simply  because  they  are  Christians/' 
came  the  reports  from  many  parts. 

Soon  dreadful  stories  came  from  the  prisons,  not 
only  in  Seoul,  but  in  many  other  parts.  Men  who 
had  been  released  after  investigation,  as  innocent, 
told  of  the  tortures  inflicted  on  them  in  the  police 
offices,  and  showed  their  jellied  and  blackened  flesh 
in  proof.  Some  were  even  inconsiderate  enough  to 
die  a  few  days  after  release,  and  on  examination 
their  bodies  and  heads  were  found  horribly  dam- 
aged. The  treatment  may  be  summed  up  in  a 
paragraph  from  a  statement  by  the  Rev.  A.  E. 
Armstrong,  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Canada,  who  was  on  a 
visit  to  Korea  at  the  time : 

"  The  tortures  which  the  Koreans  suffer  at  the  hands 
of  the  police  and  gendarmes  are  identical  with  those 
employed  in  the  famous  conspiracy  trials.  I  read  affi- 
davits, now  on  their  way  to  the  United  States  and  British 
Governments,  which  made  one's  blood  boil,  so  frightful 
were  the  means  used  in  trying  to  extort  confessions  from 
prisoners.  And  many  of  these  had  no  part  in  the  demon- 
strations, but  were  simply  onlookers." 

Within  a  fortnight,  the  arrests  numbered  thou- 
sands in  Seoul  alone.  Every  man,  particularly 
every  student,  suspected  of  participation  was 
jailed.  But  it  was  evident  that  the  authorities  had 
not  secured  the  leaders,  or  else  that  the  leaders  had 
arranged  a  system  by  which  there  were  men  always 
ready  to  step  into  the  place  of  those  who  were 
taken.     The  official  organ,  the  Seoul  Press,  would 


PEOPLE  SPEAK— TYRANTS  ANSWER      261 

come  out  with  an  announcement  that  the  agitation 
had  now  died  down;  two  or  three  days  later  there 
would  be  another  great  demonstration  in  the 
streets.  The  hundred  thousand  visitors  who  had 
come  to  Seoul  for  the  funeral  returned  home  to 
start  agitations  in  their  own  districts.  The  au- 
thorities were  particularly  annoyed  at  their  inability 
to  discover  the  editors  and  publishers  of  the  secret 
paper  of  the  protest,  the  Independence  News,  which 
appeared  in  mimeographed  form.  To  prevent  its 
publication  the  authorities  took  control  of  mimeo- 
graph paper,  and  seized  every  mimeograph  ma- 
chine they  could  find.  Time  after  time  it  was 
stated  that  the  editors  of  the  paper  had  been 
secured;  the  announcement  was  barely  published 
before  fresh  editions  would  mysteriously  appear  in 
Seoul  and  in  the  provinces. 

Despite  every  effort  to  minimize  it,  news  of  the 
happenings  gradually  crept  out  and  were  published 
abroad.  Mr.  I.  Yamagata,  the  Director-General  of 
Administration,  was  called  to  Tokyo  for  a  confer- 
ence with  the  Government.  Much  was  hoped  by 
many  friends  of  Japan  in  America  from  this.  It 
Was  believed  that  the  Liberal  Premier  of  Japan,  the 
Hon.  T.  Hara,  would  promptly  declare  himself 
against  the  cruelties  that  had  been  employed.  Un- 
fortunately these  hopes  were  disappointed.  While 
speaking  reassuringly  to  foreign  enquirers,  Mr. 
Hara  and  his  Government  officially  determined  on 
still  harsher  measures. 

Mr.  Yamagata's  own  statement,  issued  on  his 
return,  announced  that  after  conference  with  the 


262  KOKEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

Premier,  an  audience  with  the  Emperor  and  con- 
ferences with  the  Cabinet  "  decision  was  reached 
in  favour  of  taking  drastic  measures  by  despatching 
more  troops  to  the  peninsula." 

"In  the  first  stage  of  the  trouble,  the  Government- 
General  was  in  favour  of  mild  measures  (  !),  and  it  was 
hoped  to  quell  the  agitation  by  peaceful  methods,"  Mr. 
Yamagata  continued.  "  It  is  to  be  regretted,  however, 
that  the  agitation  has  gradually  spread  to  all  parts  of  the 
peninsula,  while  the  nature  of  the  disturbance  has  become 
malignant,  and  it  was  to  cope  with  this  situation  that  the 
Government  was  obliged  to  resort  to  force.  In  spite  of 
this,  the  trouble  has  not  only  continued,  but  has  become 
so  uncontrollable  and  wide-spread  that  the  police  and 
military  force  hitherto  in  use  has  been  found  insufficient, 
necessitating  the  despatch  of  more  troops  and  gendarmes 
from  the  mother  country.  .  .  .  Should  they  (the 
agitators)  continue  the  present  trouble,  it  would  be  neces- 
sary to  show  them  the  full  power  of  the  military  force. 
It  is  earnestly  to  be  hoped  that  the  trouble  will  be  settled 
peacefully,  before  the  troops  are  obliged  to  use  their 
bayonets." 

Count  Hasegawa,  the  Governor-General,  had  al- 
ready issued  various  proclamations,  telling  the 
people  of  the  Imperial  benevolence  of  Japan,  warn- 
ing them  that  the  watchword  "  self-determination 
of  races "  was  utterly  irrevelant  to  Japan,  and 
warning  them  of  the  relentless  punishment  that 
would  fall  on  those  who  committed  offences  against 
the  peace.  Here  is  one  of  the  proclamations.  It 
may  be  taken  as  typical  of  all : 

"  When  the  State  funeral  of  the  late  Prince*Yi  was  on 
the  point  of  being  held,  I  issued  an  instruction  that  the 
people  should  help  one  another  to  mourn  his  loss  in  a 


PEOPLE  SPEAK—TYRANTS  ANSWER      263 

quiet  and  respectful  manner  and  avoid  any  rash  act  or 
disorder.  Alas!  I  was  deeply  chagrined  to  see  that, 
instigated  by  certain  refractory  men,  people  started  a  riot 
in  Seoul  and  other  places.  Rumour  was  recently  cir- 
culated that  at  the  recent  Peace  Conference  in  Paris  and 
other  places,  the  independence  of  Chosen  was  recognized 
by  foreign  Powers,  but  the  rumour  is  absolutely  ground- 
less. It  need  hardly  be  stated  that  the  sovereignty  of  the 
Japanese  Empire  is  irrevocably  established  in  the  past, 
and  will  never  be  broken  in  the  future.  During  the  ten 
years  since  annexation,  the  Imperial  benevolence  has 
gradually  reached  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  it  is  now 
recognized  throughout  the  world  that  the  country  has 
made  a  marked  advancement  in  the  securing  of  safety  to 
life,  and  property,  and  the  development  of  education  and 
industry.  Those  who  are  trying  to  mislead  the  people 
by  disseminating  such  a  rumour  as  cited  know  their  own 
purpose,  but  it  is  certain  that  the  day  of  repentance  will 
come  to  all  who,  discarding  their  studies  or  vocations, 
take  part  in  the  mad  movement.  Immediate  awakening 
is  urgently  required. 

"  The  mother  country  and  Chosen,  now  merging  in  one 
body,  makes  a  State.  Its  population  and  strength  were 
found  adequate  enough  to  enter  upon  a  League  with  the 
Powers  and  conduct  to  the  promotion  of  world  peace  and 
enlightenment,  while  at  the  same  time  the  Empire  is  going 
faithfully  to  discharge  its  duty  as  an  Ally  by  saving  its 
neighbour  from  difficulty.  This  is  the  moment  of  time 
when  the  bonds  of  unity  between  the  Japanese  and 
Koreans  are  to  be  more  firmly  tightened  and  nothing  will 
be  left  undone  to  fulfill  the  mission  of  the  Empire  and  to 
establish  its  prestige  on  the  globe.  It  is  evident  that  the 
two  peoples,  which  have  ever  been  in  inseparably  close 
relations  from  of  old,  have  lately  been  even  more  closely 
connected.  The  recent  episodes  are  by  no  means  due  to 
any  antipathy  between  the  two  peoples.  It  will  be  most 
unwise  credulously  to  swallow  the  utterances  of  those 
refractory  people  who,  resident  always  abroad,  are  not 
well  informed  upon  the  real  conditions  in  the  peninsula, 
but,  nevertheless,  are  attempting  to  mislead  their  brethren 


264  KOBEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

by  spreading  wild  fictions  and  thus  disturbing  the  peace  of 
the  Empire,  only  to  bring  on  themselves  the  derision  of 
the  Powers  for  their  indulgence  in  unbridled  imagination 
in  seizing  upon  the  watchword  *  self-determination  of 
races '  which  is  utterly  irrelevant  to  Chosen,  and  in  com- 
mitting themselves  to  thoughtless  act  and  language.  The 
Government  are  now  doing  their  utmost  to  put  an  end  to 
such  unruly  behaviour  and  will  relentlessly  punish  any- 
body daring  to  commit  offences  against  the  peace.  The 
present  excitement  will  soon  cease  to  exist,  but  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  people  on  their  part  will  do  their  share  in 
restoring  quiet  by  rightly  guarding  their  wards  and  neigh- 
bours so  as  to  save  them  from  any  offence  committing  a 
severe  penalty." ' 

The  new  era  of  relentless  severity  began  by  the 
enactment  of  various  fresh  laws.  The  regulations 
for  Koreans  going  from  or  coming  into  their  coun- 
try were  made  more  rigid.  The  Regulations  Con- 
cerning Visitors  and  Residents  had  already  been 
revised  in  mid-March.  Under  these,  any  person 
who,  even  as  a  non-commercial  act,  allowed  a  for- 
eigner to  stay  in  his  or  her  house  for  a  night  or 
more  must  hereafter  at  once  report  the  fact  to  the 
police  or  gendarmes.  A  fresh  ordinance  against 
agitators  was  published  in  the  Official  Gazette.  It 
provided  that  anybody  interfering  or  attempting 
to  interfere  in  the  preservation  of  peace  and  order 
with  a  view  to  bringing  about  political  change 
would  be  punished  by  penal  servitude  or  imprison- 
ment for  a  period  not  exceeding  ten  years.  The 
ordinance  would  apply  to  offences  committed  by 
subjects  of  the  Empire  committed  outside  its  do- 
mains, and  it  was  specially  emphasized  in  the  ex- 
1  Quoted  from  the  Seoul  Press. 


PEOPLE  SPEAK— TYKANTS  ANSWEB      265 

planations  of  the  new  law  given  out  that  it  would 
apply  to  foreigners  as  well  as  Japanese  or  Koreans. 

The  Government-General  introduced  a  new  prin- 
ciple, generally  regarded  by  jurists  of  all  lands  as 
unjust  and  indefensible.  They  made  the  law  retro- 
active. People  who  were  found  guilty  of  this  of- 
fence, their  acts  being  committed  before  the  new 
law  came  into  force,  were  to  be  sentenced  under  it, 
and  not  under  the  much  milder  old  law.  This  was 
done. 

The  Koreans  were  quickly  to  learn  what  the  new 
military  regime  meant.  One  of  the  first  examples 
was  at  Cheamni,  a  village  some  miles  from  Suigen, 
on  the  Seoul-Fusan  Railway.  Various  rumours 
reached  Seoul  that  this  place  had  been  destroyed, 
and  a  party  of  Americans,  including  Mr.  Curtice  of 
the  Consulate,  Mr.  Underwood,  son  of  the  famous 
missionary  pioneer,  and  himself  a  missionary  and  a 
correspondent  of  the  Japan  Advertiser,  went  to 
investigate.  After  considerable  enquiry  they 
reached  a  place  which  had  been  a  village  of  forty 
houses.  They  found  only  four  or  five  standing. 
All  the  rest  were  smoking  ruins. 

"  We  passed  along  the  path,"  wrote  the  corre- 
spondent of  the  Japan  Advertiser,  "  which  ran  along 
the  front  of  the  village  lengthwise,  and  in  about  the 
middle  we  came  on  a  compound  surrounded  by 
burnt  poplars,  which  was  filled  with  glowing  ashes. 
It  was  here  that  we  found  a  body  frightfully  burned 
and  twisted,  either  of  a  young  man  or  a  woman. 
This  place  we  found  later  was  the  Christian  church, 
and  on  coming  down  from  another  direction  on  our 


266  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

return  I  found  a  second  body,  evidently  that  of  a 
man,  also  badly  burned,  lying  just  outside  the 
church  compound.  The  odour  of  burned  flesh  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  church  was  sickening. 

"  We  proceeded  to  the  end  of  the  village  and 
climbed  the  hill,  where  we  found  several  groups  of 
people  huddled  under  little  straw  shelters,  with  a 
few  of  their  pitiful  belongings  about  them.  They 
were  mostly  women,  some  old,  others  young 
mothers  with  babes  at  breast,  but  all  sunk  in  the 
dull  apathy  of  abject  misery  and  despair. 

"  Talking  to  them  in  their  own  language  and 
with  sympathy,  Mr.  Underwood  soon  won  the  con- 
fidence of  several  and  got  the  story  of  what  hap- 
pened from  different  groups,  and  in  every  case 
these  stories  tallied  in  the  essential  facts.  The  day 
before  we  arrived,  soldiers  came  to  the  village, 
some  time  in  the  early  afternoon,  and  ordered  all 
the  male  Christians  to  gather  in  the  church.  When 
they  had  so  gathered,  to  a  number  estimated  to  be 
thirty  by  our  informers,  the  soldiers  opened  fire  on 
them  with  rifles  and  then  proceeded  into  the  church 
and  finished  them  off  with  sword  and  bayonets. 
After  this  they  set  fire  to  the  church,  but  as  the 
direction  of  the  wind  and  the  central  position  of  the 
church  prevented  the  upper  houses  catching,  sol- 
diers fired  these  houses  individually,  and  after  a 
time  left. 

"  As  we  passed  down  the  ruined  village,  return- 
ing to  our  rikishas,  we  came  on  the  last  house  of  the 
village,  which  was  standing  intact,  and  entered  in 
conversation  with  the  owner,  a  very  old  man.     He 


PEOPLE  SPEAK—TYRANTS  ANSWER      267 

attributed  the  safety  of  his  house  to  its  being 
slightly  removed,  and  to  a  vagary  of  the  wind.  He 
was  alive  because  he  was  not  a  Christian  and  had 
not  been  called  into  the  church.  The  details  of  his 
story  of  the  occurrence  tallied  exactly  with  the 
others,  as  to  what  had  happened." 

One  example  will  serve  to  show  what  was  going 
on  now  all  over  the  country.  The  following  letter 
was  written  by  a  cultured  American  holding  a  re- 
sponsible position  in  Korea : 

"  Had  the  authorities  handled  this  matter  in  a  different 
way,  this  letter  would  never  have  been  written.  We  are 
not  out  here  to  mix  in  politics,  and  so  long  as  it  remained 
a  purely  political  problem,  we  had  no  desire  to  say  any- 
thing on  one  side  or  the  other.  But  the  appeal  of  the 
Koreans  has  been  met  in  such  a  way  that  it  has  been 
taken  out  of  the  realm  of  mere  politics  and  has  become  a 
question  of  humanity.  When  it  comes  to  weakness  and 
helplessness  being  pitted  against  inhumanity,  there  can  be 
no  such  thing  as  neutrality. 

"  I  have  seen  personal  friends  of  mine  among  the 
Koreans,  educated  men,  middle-aged  men,  who  up  to  that 
time  had  no  part  in  the  demonstrations,  parts  of  whose 
bodies  had  been  beaten  to  a  pulp  under  police  orders. 

"  A  few  hundred  yards  from  where  I  am  writing,  the 
beating  goes  on,  day  after  day.  The  victims  are  tied 
down  on  a  frame  and  beaten  on  the  naked  body  with  rods 
till  they  become  unconscious.  Then  cold  water  is  poured 
on  them  until  they  revive,  when  the  process  is  repeated. 
It  is  sometimes  repeated  many  times.  Reliable  informa- 
tion comes  to  me  that  in  some  cases  arms  and  legs  have 
been  broken. 

"  Men,  women  and  children  are  shot  down  or  bayo- 
netted.  The  Christian  church  is  specially  chosen  as  an 
object  of  fury,  and  to  the  Christians  is  meted  out  special 
severity.     .     .     . 


268  KOBE  A' S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

"  A  few  miles  from  here,  a  band  of  soldiers  entered  a 
village  and  ordered  the  men  to  leave,  the  women  to 
remain  behind.  But  the  men  were  afraid  to  leave  their 
women,  and  sent  the  women  away  first.  For  this  the  men 
were  beaten. 

"  A  short  distance  from  this  village,  this  band  is  re- 
ported to  have  met  a  Korean  woman  riding  in  a  rickshaw. 
She  was  violated  by  four  of  the  soldiers  and  left  uncon- 
scious. A  Korean  reported  the  doings  of  this  band  of 
soldiers  to  the  military  commander  of  the  district  in 
which  it  occurred  and  the  commander  ordered  him  to  be 
beaten  for  reporting  it. 

"  Word  comes  to  me  to-day  from  another  province  of 
a  woman  who  was  stripped  and  strung  up  by  the  thumbs 
for  six  hours  in  an  effort  to  get  her  to  tell  the  where- 
abouts of  her  husband.    She  probably  did  not  know. 

"  The  woes  of  Belgium  under  German  domination  have 
filled  our  ears  for  the  past  four  years,  and  rightly  so. 
The  Belgian  Government  has  recently  announced  that 
during  the  more  than  four  years  that  the  Germans  held 
the  country,  six  thousand  civilians  were  put  to  death  by 
the  Germans.  Here  in  this  land  it  is  probably  safe  to 
say  that  two  thousand  men,  women  and  children,  empty 
handed  and  helpless,  have  been  put  to  death  in  seven 
weeks.    You  may  draw  your  own  conclusions ! 

"  As  for  the  Koreans,  they  are  a  marvel  to  us  all. 
Even  those  of  us  who  have  known  them  for  many  years, 
and  have  believed  them  to  be  capable  of  great  things, 
were  surprised.  Their  self-restraint,  their  fortitude,  their 
endurance  and  their  heroism  have  seldom  been  surpassed. 
As  an  American  I  have  been  accustomed  to  hear,  as  a  boy, 
of  the  '  spirit  of  76/  but  I  have  seen  it  out  here,  and  it 
was  under  a  yellow  skin.  More  than  one  foreigner  is 
saying,  these  days, '  I  am  proud  of  the  Koreans/  " 

There  were  exciting  scenes  in  Sun-chon.  This 
city  is  one  of  the  great  centres  of  Christianity  in 
Korea,  and  its  people,  hardy  and  independent 
northerners,  have  for  long  been  suspected  by  the 


PEOPLE  SPEAK— TYEANTS  ANSWER      269 

Japanese.  Large  numbers  of  leaders  of  the  church 
and  students  at  the  missionary  academy  had  been 
arrested,  confined  for  a  very  long  period  and  ill- 
treated  at  the  time  of  the  Conspiracy  trial.  They 
were  all  found  to  be  innocent  later,  on  the  retrial 
at  the  Appeal  Court.  This  had  not  tended  to  pro- 
mote harmonious  relations  between  the  two 
peoples. 

Various  notices  and  appeals  were  circulated 
among  the  people.  Many  of  them,  issued  by  the 
leaders,  strongly  urged  the  people  to  avoid  insult- 
ing behaviour,  insulting  language  or  violence  to- 
wards the  Japanese. 

"  Pray  morning,  noon  and  night,  and  fast  on 
Sundays  "  was  the  notice  to  the  Christians.  Other 
appeals  ran: 

"  Think,  dear  Korean  brothers ! 

"  What  place  have  we  or  our  children  ?  Where  can  we 
speak?    What  has  become  of  our  land? 

"  Fellow  countrymen,  we  are  of  one  blood.  Can  we  be 
indifferent?  At  this  time,  how  can  you  Japanese  show 
such  ill  feeling  and  such  treachery?  How  can  you  injure 
us  with  guns  and  swords  ?  How  can  your  violence  be  so 
deep? 

"  Koreans,  if  in  the  past  for  small  things  we  have  suf- 
fered injuries,  how  much  more  shall  we  suffer  to-day? 
Even  though  your  flesh  be  torn  from  you,  little  by  little, 
you  can  stand  it!  Think  of  the  past.  Think  of  the 
future !  We  stand  together  for  those  who  are  dying  for 
Korea. 

"  We  have  been  held  in  bondage.  If  we  do  not  become 
free  at  this  time,  we  shall  never  be  able  to  gain  freedom. 
Brethren,  it  can  be  done!  It  is  possible!  Do  not  be 
discouraged !    Give  up  your  business  for  the  moment  and 


270  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

shout  for  Korea.  Injury  to  life  and  property  are  of  con- 
sequence, but  right  and  liberty  are  far  more  important. 
Until  the  news  of  the  Peace  Conference  is  received,  do 
not  cease.  We  are  not  wood  and  stones,  but  flesh  and 
blood.  Can  we  not  speak  out  ?  Why  go  back  and  become 
discouraged  ?  Do  not  fear  death !  Even  though  I  die, 
my  children  and  grandchildren  shall  enjoy  the  blessings 
of  liberty.     Mansei !    Mansei !    Mansei !  " 

Mr.  D.  V.  Hudson,  of  the  Southern  Presbyterian 
University  at  Shanghai,  brought  the  records  of 
many  outrages  back  with  him  on  his  return  to 
America.     From  them  I  take  the  following: 

"  At  Maingsang,  South  Pyeng-yang  Province,  the  fol- 
lowing incident  took  place  on  March  3rd.  When  the 
uprising  first  broke  out  there  were  no  Japanese  gendarmes 
in  the  village,  but  Koreans  only.  The  people  there  were 
mostly  Chun-do  Kyo  followers,  so  no  Christians  were 
involved  in  the  trouble.  These  Chun-do  Kyo  people 
gathered  on  the  appointed  day  for  the  Korean  Independ- 
ence celebration,  and  held  the  usual  speeches  and  shout- 
ing of  '  Mansei/  The  Korean  gendarmes  did  not  want  to 
or  dared  not  interfere,  so  that  day  was  spent  by  the  people 
as  they  pleased. 

"  A  few  days  later  Japanese  soldiers  arrived  to  investi- 
gate and  to  put  down  the  uprising.  They  found  the  peo- 
ple meeting  again,  ostensibly  to  honour  one  of  their 
teachers.  The  soldiers  immediately  interfered,  seized  the 
leader  of  the  meeting  and  led  him  away  to  the  gendarme 
station.  He  was  badly  treated  in  the  affray  and  the 
people  were  badly  incensed.  So  they  followed  the  sol- 
diers to  the  station,  hoping  to  effect  the  release  of  their 
leader.  The  soldiers  tried  to  drive  them  away.  Some 
left  but  others  remained. 

"  The  police  station  was  surrounded  by  a  stone  wall, 
with  but  one  gate  to  the  enclosure.  The  soldiers  per- 
mitted those  who  insisted  on  following  to  enter,  and,  when 
they  had  entered,   closed  the   door;   then  the   soldiers 


PEOPLE  SPEAK— TYRANTS  ANSWER      271 

deliberately  set  to  work,  shooting  them  down  in  cold 
blood.     Only  three  of  the  fifty-six  escaped  death.' ' 

Let  me  give  one  other  statement  by  a  newspaper 
man.  I  might  go  on  with  tale  after  tale  of  bru- 
tality and  fill  another  volume.  Mr.  William  R. 
Giles  is  a  Far  Eastern  correspondent  well  known 
for  the  sanity  of  his  views  and  his  careful  state- 
ments of  facts.  He  represents  the  Chicago  Daily 
News  at  Peking.  He  visited  Korea  shortly  after 
the  uprising,  specially  to  learn  the  truth.  He  re- 
mained there  many  weeks.  Here  is  his  deliberate 
verdict: 

"  Pekin,  June  14th. — After  nearly  three  months  of 
travelling  in  Korea,  in  which  time  I  journeyed  from  the 
north  to  the  extreme  south,  I  find  that  the  charges  of 
misgovernment,  torture  and  useless  slaughter  by  the  Jap- 
anese to  be  substantially  correct. 

"  In  the  country  districts  I  heard  stories  of  useless 
murder  and  crimes  against  women.  A  number  of  the 
latter  cases  were  brought  to  my  notice.  One  of  the 
victims  was  a  patient  in  a  missionary  hospital. 

"  In  a  valley  about  fifty  miles  from  Fusan,  the  Jap- 
anese soldiery  closed  up  a  horseshoe-shaped  valley  sur- 
rounded by  high  hills,  and  then  shot  down  the  villagers 
who  attempted  to  escape  by  climbing  the  steep  slopes.  I 
was  informed  that  more  than  100  persons  were  killed  in 
this  affray. 

"  In  Taku,  a  large  city  midway  between  Seoul  and 
Fusan,  hundreds  of  cases  of  torture  occurred,  and  many 
of  the  victims  of  ill-treatment  were  in  the  hospitals.  In 
Seoul,  the  capital,  strings  of  prisoners  were  seen  daily 
being  taken  to  jails  which  were  already  crowded. 

"  While  I  was  in  this  city  I  spent  some  time  in  the 
Severance  Hospital  as  a  patient,  and  saw  wounded  men 
taken  out  by  the  police,  one  of  them  having  been  beaten 
to  death.    Two  days  later  the  hospital  repeatedly  was 


272  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FREEDOM 

entered  and  the  patients  catechized,  those  in  charge  being 
unable  to  prevent  it.  Detectives  even  attempted  in  the 
night  time  secretly  to  enter  my  room  while  I  was  critically 
ill. 

"  In  Seoul,  Koreans  were  not  allowed  to  be  on  the 
streets  after  dark  and  were  not  allowed  to  gather  in 
groups  larger  than  three.  All  the  prisoners  were  brutally 
and  disgustingly  treated.  Innocent  persons  were  being 
continually  arrested,  kept  in  overcrowded  prisons  a  month 
or  more,  and  then,  after  being  flogged,  released  without 
trial. 

"  Northern  Korea  suffered  the  most  from  the  Japanese 
brutalities.  In  the  Pyeng-yang  and  Sensan  districts 
whole  villages  were  destroyed  and  churches  burned,  many 
of  which  I  saw  and  photographed. 

"  In  Pyeng-yang  I  interviewed  the  Governor  and  easily 
saw  that  he  was  powerless,  everything  being  in  the  hands 
of  the  chief  of  the  gendarmerie.  At  first  I  was  not  al- 
lowed to  visit  the  prison,  but  the  Governor-General  of 
Korea  telegraphed  his  permission.  I  found  it  clean  and 
the  prisoners  were  well  fed,  but  the  overcrowded  condi- 
tion of  the  cells  caused  untold  suffering. 

"  In  one  room,  ten  feet  by  six,  were  more  than  thirty 
prisoners.  The  prison  governor  admitted  that  the  total 
normal  capacity  of  the  building  was  800,  but  the  occu- 
pants then  numbered  2,100.  He  said  he  had  requested 
the  Government  to  enlarge  the  prison  immediately,  as 
otherwise  epidemics  would  break  out  as  soon  as  hot 
weather  came. 

"  I  visited  an  interior  village  to  learn  the  truth  in  a 
report  that  the  Christians  had  been  driven  from  their 
homes.  The  local  head  official,  not  a  Christian,  admitted 
to  me  that  the  non-Christian  villagers  had  driven  the 
Christians  into  the  mountains  because  the  local  military 
officials  had  warned  him  that  their  presence  would  result 
in  the  village  being  shot  up.  He  said  he  had  the  most 
friendly  feeling  for  the  Christians  but  drove  them  out  in 
self -protection. 

"  In  other  villages  which  I  visited  the  building  had  been 
entirely  destroyed  and  the  places  were  destroyed.     In 


PEOPLE  SPEAK— TYRANTS  ANSWER      273 

some  of  the  places  I  found  only  terrorized  and  tearful 
women  who  did  not  dare  to  speak  to  a  foreigner  because 
the  local  gendarmes  would  beat  and  torture  them  if 
they  did  so. 

"  The  majority  of  the  schools  throughout  the  country 
are  closed.  In  most  places  the  missionaries  are  not  al- 
lowed to  hold  services.  Though  innocent  of  any  wrong- 
doing, they  are  under  continual  suspicion.  It  was  im- 
possible for  them  or  others  to  use  the  telegraph  and  post- 
offices,  the  strictest  censorship  prevailing.  Undoubtedly 
an  attempt  is  being  made  to  undermine  Christianity  and 
make  the  position  of  missionaries  so  difficult  that  it  will 
be  impossible  for  them  to  carry  on  their  work. 

"  In  the  course  of  my  investigation  I  was  deeply  im- 
pressed with  the  pitiful  condition  of  the  Korean  people. 
They  are  allowed  only  a  limited  education  and  attempts 
are  being  made  to  cause  them  to  forget  their  national 
history  and  their  language. 

"  There  is  no  freedom  of  the  press  or  of  public  meet- 
ing. The  people  are  subject  to  the  harshest  regulations 
and  punishments  without  any  court  of  appeal.  They  are 
like  sheep  driven  to  a  slaughter  house.  Only  an  inde- 
pendent investigation  can  make  the  world  understand 
Korea's  true  position.  At  present  the  groanings  and  suf- 
ferings of  20,000,000  people  are  apparently  falling  on 
deaf  ear." 

As  these  tales,  and  many  more  like  them,  were 
spread  abroad,  the  Japanese  outside  of  Korea  tried 
to  find  some  excuse  for  their  nationals.  One  of  the 
most  extraordinary  of  these  excuses  was  a  series 
of  instructions,  said  to  have  been  issued  by  General 
Utsonomiya,  commander  of  the  military  forces  in 
Korea,  to  the  officers  and  men  under  him.  Copies 
of  these  were  privately  circulated  by  certain  pro- 
Japanese  in  America  among  their  friends,  as  proof 
of  the  falsity  of  the  charges  of  ill-treatment.  Some 
extracts  from  them  were  published  by  Bishop  Her- 


274  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

bert  Welsh,  of  the  Methodist  Church,  in  the  Chris- 
tian Advocate. 

"  Warm  sympathy  should  be  shown  to  the  erring 
Koreans,  who,  in  spite  of  their  offence,  should  be  treated 
as  unfortunate  fellow  countrymen,  needing  love  and 
guidance. 

"  Use  of  weapons  should  be  abstained  from  till  the  last 
moment  of  absolute  necessity.  Where,  for  instance,  the 
demonstration  is  confined  merely  to  processions  and  the 
shouting  of  banzai  and  no  violence  is  done,  efforts  should 
be  confined  to  the  dispersal  of  crowds  by  peaceful  per- 
suasion. 

"  Even  in  case  force  is  employed  as  the  last  resource, 
endeavour  should  be  made  to  limit  its  use  to  the  minimum 
extent. 

"  The  moment  the  necessity  therefor  ceases  the  use  of 
force  should  at  once  be  stopped.     .     .     . 

"  Special  care  should  be  taken  not  to  harm  anybody  not 
participating  in  disturbances,  especially  aged  people,  chil- 
dren and  women.  With  regard  to  the  missionaries  and 
other  foreigners,  except  in  case  of  the  plainest  evidence, 
as,  for  instance,  where  they  are  caught  in  the  act,  all  for- 
bearance and  circumspection  should  be  used. 

"  You  are  expected  to  see  to  it  that  the  officers  and  men 
under  you  (especially  those  detailed  in  small  parties)  will 
lead  a  clean  and  decent  life  and  be  modest  and  polite, 
without  abating  their  loyalty  and  courage,  thus  exem- 
plifying in  their  conduct  the  noble  traditions  of  our 
historic  Bushido."     .     .     . 

If  a  final  touch  were  wanted  to  the  disgrace  of 
the  Japanese  administration,  here  it  was.  Brutal- 
ity, especially  brutality  against  the  unarmed  and 
against  women  and  children,  is  bad  enough;  but 
when  to  brutality  we  add  nauseating  hypocrisy, 
God  help  us! 

One  of  the  Japanese  majors  who  returned  from 


PEOPLE  SPEAK— TYRANTS  ANSWER      275 

Korea  to  Tokyo  to  lecture  was  more  straightfor- 
ward. "  We  must  beat  and  kill  the  Koreans,"  he 
said.     And  they  did. 

After  a  time  the  Japanese  papers  began  to  report 
the  punishments  inflicted  on  the  arrested  Koreans. 
Many  were  released  after  examination  and  beat- 
ings. It  was  mentioned  that  up  to  April  13th, 
2,400  of  those  arrested  in  Seoul  alone  had  been 
released,  "  after  severe  admonition."  The  usual 
sentences  were  between  six  months'  and  four  years' 
imprisonment. 

Soon  there  came  reports  that  prisoners  were  at- 
tempting to  commit  suicide  in  jail.  Then  came 
word  that  two  of  the  original  signers  of  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence  were  dead  in  prison. 
Koreans  everywhere  mourned.  For  they  could 
imagine  how  they  had  died. 

During  the  summer  the  authorities  published 
figures  relating  to  the  number  of  prisoners  brought 
under  the  examination  of  Public  Procurators  be- 
tween March  1st  and  June  18th,  on  account  of  the 
agitation.  These  figures  do  not  include  the  large 
numbers  released  by  the  police  after  arrest,  and 
after  possibly  summary  punishment.  Sixteen  thou- 
sand one  hundred  and  eighty-three  men  were 
brought  up  for  examination.  Of  these,  8,351  were 
prosecuted  and  5,858  set  free  after  the  Procurators' 
examination.  One  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
seventy-eight  were  transferred  from  one  law  court 
to  another  for  the  purpose  of  thorough  examina- 
tion, while  178  had  not  yet  been  tried. 


XVI 

THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR  IN  PYENG-YANG 

PYENG-YANG,  the  famous  missionary 
centre  in  Northern  Korea,  has  been  de- 
scribed in  previous  chapters.  The  people 
here,  Christians  and  non-Christians  alike,  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  movement.  It  was  an- 
nounced that  three  memorial  services  would  be 
held  on  March  1st,  in  memory  of  the  late  Emperor, 
one  in  the  compound  of  the  Christian  Boys'  School, 
one  in  the  compound  of  the  Methodist  church  and 
the  third  at  the  headquarers  of  the  Chun-do  Kyo. 

The  meeting  at  the  boys'  school  was  typical  of 
all.  Several  of  the  native  pastors  and  elders  of  the 
Presbyterian  churches  of  the  city,  including  the 
Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly,  were  present, 
and  the  compound  was  crowded  with  fully  three 
thousand  people.  After  the  memorial  service  was 
finished,  a  prominent  Korean  minister  asked  the 
people  to  keep  their  seats,  as  there  was  more  to 
follow. 

Then,  with  an  air  of  great  solemnity,  the  Mod- 
erator of  the  General  Assembly  read  two  passages 
from  the  Bible,  1  Peter  3 :  13-17  and  Romans  9 :  3. 

"  And  who  is  he  that  will  harm  you,  if  ye  be  followers 
of  that  which  is  good. 

"  But,  if  ye  suffer  for  righteousness  sake,  happy  are  ye, 
and  be  not  afraid  of  their  terror,  neither  be  troubled. 

276 


THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR  IN  PYENG-YANG    277 

"  For  I  could  wish  that  I  were  accurst  from  Christ  for 
my  brethren,  my  kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh." 

It  was  the  great  appeal  to  all  that  was  most 
heroic  in  their  souls.  Some  of  them  whispered  the 
words  after  the  Moderator. 

"  Sarami  doorupkei  hanangusul  dooru  wo  mal- 
myu  sodong  chi  malgo." 

"  Be  not  afraid  of  their  terror." 

These  white-robed  men  knew  what  was  before 
them.  Terror  and  torture  and  suffering  were  no 
new  things  to  them.  Within  a  quarter  of  a  century 
conquering  and  defeated  armies  had  passed  through 
their  city  time  after  time.  They  knew  war,  and 
they  knew  worse  than  war.  Japan  had  during  the 
past  few  years  planted  her  terror  among  them,  per- 
secuting the  Church,  arresting  its  most  prominent 
members  on  false  charges,  breaking  them  in  prison 
by  scientific  torture.  Many  of  the  men  knew,  in 
that  assembly,  of  the  meaning  of  police  flogging, 
the  feel  of  police  burning,  the  unspeakable  agony 
of  being  strung  up  by  the  thumbs  under  the  police 
inquisition. 

"Be  not  afraid  of  their  terror!"  Easy  to  say 
this  to  Western  peoples,  to  whom  terror  is  known 
only  in  the  form  of  the  high  explosives  and  drop- 
ping bombs  of  honourable  war.  But  for  these 
men  it  had  another  meaning,  an  inquisition  await- 
ing them  compared  with  which  the  tortures  of  Tor- 
quemada  paled. 

"Be  not  afraid!" 

There  was  no  tremor  of  fear  in  the  voice  of  the 


278  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

college  graduate  who  rose  to  his  feet  and  came  to 
the  front.  "  This  is  the  proudest  and  happiest  day 
of  my  life,"  he  said.  "  Though  I  die  to-morrow,  I 
cannot  help  but  read."  He  had  a  paper  in  his 
hand.  As  the  vast  audience  saw  it,  they  gave  a 
great  cheer.  Then  he  read  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence of  the  Korean  people. 

When  he  had  finished,  another  man  took  the  plat- 
form. "  Nothing  of  an  unlawful  nature  is  to  be 
permitted,"  he  said.  "  You  are  all  to  obey  orders, 
and  make  no  resistance  to  the  authorities,  nor  to 
attack  the  Japanese  officials  or  people."  A  speech 
on  Korean  independence  followed.  Then  some 
men  came  out  of  the  building  bearing  armfuls  of 
Korean  flags,  which  they  distributed  among  the 
people.  A  large  Korean  flag  was  raised  on  the 
wall  behind,  and  the  crowd  rose  to  its  feet  cheering, 
waving  flags,  calling  "  Mansei." 

There  was  to  be  a  parade  through  the  streets. 
But  spies  had  already  hurried  off  to  the  police  sta- 
tion, and  before  the  people  could  leave,  a  company 
of  policemen  arrived.  "  Remain  quiet,"  the  word 
went   round.     The   police   gathered   up   the  flags. 

In  the  evening  a  large  crowd  gathered  in  front  of 
the  police  station  shouting  "  Mansei."  The  police 
ordered  the  hose  to  be  turned  on  them.  The 
Korean  policemen  refused  to  obey  their  Japanese 
superiors,  threw  off  their  uniforms  and  joined  the 
mob.  The  hose  at  last  got  to  work.  The  mob  re- 
sponded by  throwing  stones,  breaking  the  windows 
of  the  police  station.  This  was  the  only  violence. 
On  the  following  day,  Sunday,  the  churches  were 


THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR  IN  PYENG-YANG    279 

closed.  At  midnight,  the  police  had  summoned 
Dr.  Moffett  to  their  office  and  told  him  that  no 
services  could  be  allowed.  Early  in  the  morning, 
the  leaders  of  the  Saturday  meetings  were  arrested, 
and  were  now  in  jail.    "  Be  not  afraid !  " 

At  nine  o'clock  on  Monday  morning  a  company 
of  Japanese  soldiers  was  drilling  on  the  campus. 
A  number  of  students  from  the  college  and  acad- 
emy were  on  the  top  of  a  bank,  looking  on  at  the 
drill.  Suddenly  the  soldiers,  in  obedience  to  a 
word  of  command,  rushed  at  the  students.  The 
latter  took  to  their  heels  and  fled,  save  two  or  three 
who  stood  their  ground.  The  students  who  had 
escaped  cheered;  and  one  of  the  men  who  stood  his 
ground  called  "  Mansei."  The  soldiers  struck  him 
with  the  butts  and  barrels  of  their  rifles.  Then  one 
poked  him  with  his  rifle  in  his  face.  He  was  bleed- 
ing badly.  Two  soldiers  led  him  off,  a  prisoner. 
The  rest  were  dispersed  with  kicks  and  blows. 

Now  the  Japanese  started  their  innings.  One 
man  in  plain  clothes  confronted  a  Korean  who  was 
walking  quietly,  slapped  his  face  and  knocked  him 
down.  A  soldier  joined  in  the  sport,  and  after 
many  blows  with  the  rifle  and  kicks,  they  rolled 
him  down  an  embankment  into  a  ditch.  They  then 
ran  down,  pulled  him  out  of  the  ditch,  kicked  him 
some  more,  and  hauled  him  off  to  prison. 

The  streets  were  full  of  people  now,  and  parties 
of  troops  were  going  about  everywhere  dispersing 
them.  The  crowds  formed,  shouting  "Mansei"; 
the  soldiers  chased  them,  beating  up  all  they  could 
catch.     There  were  rumours  that  most  of  the  Ko- 


280  KOBE  A' S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

rean  policemen  had  deserted;  they  had  joined  the 
crowds;  the  Japanese  were  searching  for  them  and 
arresting  them;  and,  men  whispered,  they  would  be 
executed.  By  midday,  every  one  had  enough  trou- 
ble, and  the  city  quieted  down  for  the  rest  of  the 
day.  It  was  not  safe  to  go  abroad  now.  The  sol- 
diers were  beating  up  every  one  they  could  find, 
particularly  women. 

By  Tuesday  the  city  was  full  of  tales  of  the  do- 
ings of  the  soldiers;  having  tasted  blood,  the  troops 
were  warming  to  their  work.  "  The  soldiers  have 
been  chasing  people  to-day  like  they  were  hunters 
after  wild  beasts,"  wrote  one  foreign  spectator. 
"  Outrages  have  been  very  numerous."  Still,  de- 
spite the  troops,  the  people  held  two  or  three  patri- 
otic meetings. 

Let  me  tell  the  tale  of  Tuesday  and  Wednesday 
from  two  statements  made  by  Dr.  Moffett.  These 
statements  were  made  at  the  time  to  the  officials  in 
Pyeng-yang  and  in  Seoul: 

"  On  Tuesday,  March  4th,  I,  in  company  with 
Mr.  Yamada,  Inspector  of  Schools,  went  into  the 
midst  of  the  crowds  of  Koreans  on  the  college 
grounds,  and  thence  went  through  the  streets  to 
the  city. 

"  We  saw  thousands  of  Koreans  on  the  streets, 
the  shops  all  closed,  and  Japanese  soldiers  here  and 
there.     .     .     . 

"  As  we  came  back  and  near  a  police  station,  sol- 
diers made  a  dash  at  some  fifteen  or  more  people 
in  the  middle  of  the  street,  and  three  of  the  soldiers 
dashed  at  some  five  or  six  men  standing  quietly  at 


THE  EEIGN  OF  TEEEOE  IN  PYENG-YANG    281 

the  side,  under  the  eaves  of  the  shops,  hitting  them 
with  their  guns.  One  tall  young  man  in  a  very 
clean  white  coat  dodged  the  thrust  of  the  gun  com- 
ing about  five  feet  under  the  eaves  when  an  officer 
thrust  his  sword  into  his  back,  just  under  the  shoul- 
der blades.  The  man  was  not  more  than  ten  feet 
from  us  in  front.     .     .     . 

"  Mr.  Yamada  was  most  indignant  and  said,  '  I 
shall  tell  Governor  Kudo  just  what  I  have  seen  and 
tell  him  in  detail/ 

"  I  asked  him  if  he  had  noticed  that  the  man  was 
quietly  standing  at  the  side  of  the  road,  and  had 
given  no  occasion  for  attack.     He  said,  l  Yes.' 

"  Just  after  that  we  saw  thirty-four  young  girls 
and  women  marched  along  by  some  six  or  eight 
policemen  and  soldiers,  the  girls  ahead  not  being 
more  than  twelve  or  thirteen  years  of  age. 

"Just  outside  the  West  Gate  Mr.  Yamada  and  I 
separated  and  I  went  towards  home.  As  I  arrived 
near  my  own  compound,  I  saw  a  number  of  sol- 
diers rush  into  the  gate  of  the  Theological  Semi- 
nary professor's  cottage,  and  saw  them  grab  out  a 
man,  beat  and  kick  him  and  lead  him  off.  Others 
began  clubbing  a  youth  behind  the  gate  and  then  led 
him  out,  tied  him  tightly  and  beat  and  kicked  him. 

"  Then  there  came  out  three  others,  two  youths 
and  one  man,  dragged  by  soldiers,  and  then  tied 
with  rope,  their  hands  tied  behind  them. 

"  Thinking  one  was  my  secretary,  who  lived  in 
the  gate  house,  where  the  men  had  been  beaten,  I 
moved  to  the  junction  of  the  road  to  make  sure,  but 
I  recognized  none  of  the  four.     When  they  came  to 


282  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

the  junction  of  the  road  and  some  of  the  soldiers 
were  within  ten  or  twelve  feet  of  me,  they  all 
stopped,  tied  the  ropes  tighter,  and  then  with  four 
men  tied  and  helpless,  these  twenty  or  more  sol- 
diers, in  charge  of  an  officer,  struck  the  men  with 
their  fists  in  the  face  and  back,  hit  them  on  the 
head  and  face  with  a  piece  of  board,  kicked  them  on 
the  legs  and  back,  doing  these  things  repeatedly. 
The  officer  in  a  rage  raised  his  sword  over  his  head 
as  he  stood  before  a  boy,  and  both  I  and  the  boy 
thought  that  he  was  to  be  cleft  in  two.  The  cry  of 
terror  and  anguish  he  raised  was  most  piercing. 
Then,  kicking  and  beating  these  men,  they  led 
them  off. 

"  The  above  I  saw  myself  and  testify  to  the 
truthfulness  of  my  statements.  In  all  my  contact 
with  the  Koreans  these  five  days,  and  in  all  my  ob- 
servation of  the  crowds  inside  and  outside  the  city, 
I  have  witnessed  no  act  of  violence  on  the  part  of 
any  Korean. 

"  The  Theological  Seminary  was  due  to  open  on 
March  5th,  Five  students  from  South  Korea  ar- 
rived and  went  into  their  dormitory  on  the  after- 
noon of  the  4th.  They  had  taken  no  part  in  the 
demonstrations.  Later  in  the  afternoon  the  sol- 
diers, searching  after  some  people  who  had  run 
away  from  them,  burst  into  the  seminary.  They 
broke  open  the  door  of  the  dormitory,  pulled  the 
five  theologues  out  and  hauled  them  off  to  the 
police  station.  There,  despite  their  protests,  they 
were  tied  by  their  arms  and  legs  to  large  wooden 
crosses,  face  downwards,  and  beaten  on  the  naked 


THE  REIGN  OP  TERROR  IN  PYENG-YANG    283 

buttocks,  twenty-nine  tremendous  blows  from  a 
hard  cane,  each.     Then  they  were  dismissed. 

"  That  same  night  firemen  were  let  loose  on  the 
village  where  many  of  the  students  lived  and 
boarded.  They  dragged  out  the  young  men  and 
beat  them.  The  opening  of  the  seminary  had  to 
be  postponed. 

"  The  Japanese  were  eager  to  find  grounds  for 
convicting  the  missionaries  of  participation  in  the 
movement.  One  question  was  pressed  on  every 
prisoner,  usually  by  beating  and  burning,  '  Who 
instigated  you?     Was  it  the  foreigners?  '  " 

Dr.  Moffett  was  a  special  object  of  Japanese 
hatred.  The  Osaka  Asahi  printed  a  bitter  attack 
on  him  on  March  17th.  This  is  the  more  notable 
because  the  Asahi  is  a  noted  organ  of  Japanese 
Liberalism. 


The  Evil  Village  Outside  the  West  Gate 
in  Pyeng-yang 

A  Clever  Crowd 

"  Outside  the  West  Gate  in  Pyeng-yang  there  are  some 
brick  houses  and  some  built  after  the  Korean  style,  some 
high  and  some  low.  These  are  the  homes  of  the  for- 
eigners. There  are  about  a  hundred  of  them  in  all,  and. 
they  are  Christian  missionaries.  In  the  balmy  spring, 
strains  of  music  can  be  heard  from  there.  Outwardly 
they  manifest  love  and  mercy,  but  if  their  minds  are  fully 
investigated,  they  will  be  found  to  be  filled  wirh  intrigue 
and  greed.  They  pretend  to  be  here  for  preaching,  but 
they  are  secretly  stirring  up  political  disturbances,  and 
foolishly  keep  passing  on  the  vain  talk  of  the  Koreans, 
and  thereby  help  to  foster  trouble.  These  are  really  the 
homes  of  devils. 


284  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

"  The  head  of  the  crowd  is  Moffett.  The  Christians 
of  the  place  obey  him  as  they  would  Jesus  Himself.  In 
the  29th  year  of  Meiji  freedom  was  given  to  any  one  to 
believe  in  any  religion  he  wished,  and  at  that  time  Moffett 
came  to  teach  the  Christian  religion.  He  has  been  in 
Pyeng-yang  for  thirty  years,  and  has  brought  up  a  great 
deal  of  land.  He  is  really  the  founder  of  the  foreign 
community.  In  this  community,  because  of  his  efforts 
there  have  been  established  schools  from  the  primary 
grade  to  a  college  and  a  hospital.  While  they  are  edu- 
cating the  Korean  children  and  healing  their  diseases  on 
the  one  hand,  on  the  other  there  is  concealed  a  clever 
shadow,  and  even  the  Koreans  themselves  talk  of  this. 

"  This  is  the  centre  of  the  present  uprising.  It  is  not 
in  Seoul  but  in  Pyeng-yang. 

"  It  is  impossible  to  know  whether  these  statements  are 
true  or  false,  but  we  feel  certain  that  it  is  in  Pyeng-yang, 
in  the  Church  schools, — in  a  certain  college  and  a  certain 
girls'  school — in  the  compound  of  these  foreigners. 
Really  this  foreign  community  is  very  vile." 1 

A  veritable  reign  of  terror  was  instituted.  There 
were  wholesale  arrests  and  the  treatment  of  many 
of  the  people  in  prison  was  in  keeping  with  the 
methods  employed  by  the  Japanese  on  the  Con- 
spiracy Trial  victims.  The  case  of  a  little  shoe  boy 
aroused  special  indignation.  The  Japanese  thought 
that  he  knew  something  about  the  organization  of 
the  demonstration — why  they  thought  so,  only 
those  who  can  fathom  the  Japanese  mind  would 
venture  to  say — so  they  beat  and  burned  him  al- 
most to  death  to  make  him  confess.  A  lady  mis- 
sionary examined  his  body  afterwards.  There 
were  four  scars,  five  inches  long,  where  the  flesh 

1  Osaka  Asahi,  quoted  in  the  Peking  and  Tientsin  Times, 
March  28,  1919. 


THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR  IN  PYENG-YANG    285 

had  been  seared  with  a  red-hot  iron.  His  hands 
had  swollen  to  twice  their  normal  size  from  beating, 
and  the  dead  skin  lay  on  the  welts.  He  had  been 
kicked  and  beaten  until  he  fainted.  Then  they 
threw  water  over  him  and  gave  him  water  to  drink 
until  he  recovered  when  he  was  again  piled  with 
questions  and  beaten  with  a  bamboo  rod  until  he 
collapsed. 

Some  of  those  released  from  prison  after  they 
had  satisfied  the  Japanese  of  their  innocence  had 
dreadful  tales  to  tell.  Sixty  people  were  confined 
in  a  room  fourteen  by  eight  feet,  where  they  had 
to  stand  up  all  the  time,  not  being  allowed  to  sit  or 
lie  down.  Eating  and  sleeping  they  stood  leaning 
against  one  another.  The  wants  of  nature  had  to 
be  attended  to  by  them  as  they  stood.  The  secre- 
tary of  one  of  the  mission  schools  was  kept  for 
seven  days  in  this  room,  as  part  of  sixteen  days' 
confinement,  before  he  was  released. 

A  student,  arrested  at  his  house,  was  kept  at  the 
police  station  for  twenty  days.  Then  they  let  him 
go,  having  found  nothing  against  him.  His  bruised 
body  when  he  came  out  showed  what  he  had  suf- 
fered. He  had  been  bound  and  a  cord  around  his 
shoulders  and  arms  pulled  tight  until  the  breast- 
bone was  forced  forward  and  breathing  almost 
stopped.  Then  he  was  beaten  with  a  bamboo  stick 
on  the  shoulders  and  arms  until  he  lost  conscious- 
ness. The  bamboo  stick  was  wrapped  in  paper  so 
as  to  prevent  the  skin  breaking  and  bleeding.  He 
saw  another  man  beaten  ten  times  into  uncon- 
sciousness, and  ten  times  brought  round;  and  a  boy 


286  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

thrown  down  hard  on  the  floor  and  stamped  on 
repeatedly  until  he  lost  consciousness.  Those  who 
came  out  were  few;  what  happened  to  those  who 
remained  within  the  prison  must  be  left  to  the 
imagination. 

Despite  everything,  the  demonstrations  of  the 
people  still  continued.  On  March  Tth  the  people 
of  the  villages  of  Po  Paik  and  Kan,  twenty  miles 
north  of  Pyeng-yang,  came  out  practically  en  masse 
to  shout  for  independence.  Next  day  four  soldiers 
and  one  Korean  policeman  arrived,  asking  for  the 
pastor  of  the  church.  They  could  not  find  him,  so 
they  seized  the  school-teacher,  slashed  his  head  and 
body  with  their  swords  and  thrust  a  sword  twice 
into  his  legs.  An  elder  of  the  church  stepped  up  to 
protest  against  such  treatment,  whereupon  a  Japa- 
nese soldier  ran  a  sword  through  his  side.  As  the 
soldiers  left  some  young  men  threw  stones  at  them. 
The  soldiers  replied  with  rifle  fire,  wounding  four 
men. 

Soldiers  and  police  came  again  and  again  to  find 
the  pastor  and  church  officers  who  had  gone  into 
hiding.  On  April  4th  they  seized  the  women  and 
demanded  where  their  husbands  were,  beating 
them  with  clubs  and  guns,  the  wife  of  one  elder 
being  beaten  till  great  red  bruises  showed  all  over 
her  body. 

|  The  police  evidently  made  up  their  minds  that 
the  Christians  were  responsible  for  the  demonstra- 
tion, and  they  determined  to  rid  the  place  of  them. 
The  services  of  some  liquor  sellers  were  enlisted  to 
induce  people  to  tear  down  the  belfry  of  the  church. 


THE  EEIGN  OF  TEEEOE  IN  PYENG-YANG   287 

On  April  18th  a  Japanese  came  and  addressed  the 
crowd  through  an  interpreter. 

He  told  them  that  the  Christians  had  been  de- 
ceived by  the  "  foreign  devils,"  who  were  an  igno- 
rant, low-down  lot  of  people,  and  that  they  should 
be  driven  out  and  go  and  live  with  the  Americans 
who  had  corrupted  them.  There  was  nothing  in 
the  Bible  about  independence  and  "  Mansei." 
Three  thousand  cavalry  and  three  thousand  in- 
fantry were  coming  to  destroy  all  the  Christians, 
and  if  they  did  not  drive  them  out  but  continued  to 
live  with  them,  they  would  be  shot  and  killed. 

A  number  of  half  drunken  men  got  together  to 
drive  out  the  Christians.  This  was  done.  A  re- 
port was  taken  to  the  gendarmes  that  the  Chris- 
tians had  been  driven  away,  whereupon  the  vil- 
lagers were  praised.  In  other  parts,  near  by,  the 
same  chief  of  gendarmes  was  ordering  the  families 
of  Christians  out  of  their  homes,  arresting  the  men 
and  leaving  the  women  and  children  to  seek  refuge 
where  they  might. 

Word  came  to  some  other  villages  in  the  Pyeng- 
yang  area  that  the  police  would  visit  them  on  April 
27th,  to  inspect  the  house-cleaning.  The  Chris- 
tians received  warning  that  they  must  look  out  for 
a  hard  time.  Everything  was  very  carefully 
cleaned,  ready  for  the  inspection.  The  leader  of 
the  church  sent  word  to  all  the  people  to  gather  for 
early  worship,  so  as  to  be  through  before  the 
police  should  come.  But  the  police  were  there  be- 
fore them,  a  Japanese  in  charge,  two  Korean  po- 
licemen, two  secretaries  and  two  dog  killers. 


288  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

The  two  leaders  ot  the  church  were  called  up  by 
the  Japanese,  who  stepped  down  and  ran  his  fingers 
along  the  floor.  "  Look  at  this  dust,"  he  said. 
Ordering  the  two  men  to  sit  down  on  the  floor,  he 
beat  them  with  a  flail,  over  the  shoulders. 

"  Do  you  beat  an  old  man,  seventy  years  old,  this 
way?"  called  the  older  man. 

"  What  is  seventy  years,  you  rascal  of  a  Chris- 
tian? "  came  the  reply. 

The  police  took  the  names  of  the  Christians  from 
the  church  roll,  and  went  round  the  village,  picking 
them  out  and  beating  them  all,  men,  women  and 
children.  They  killed  their  dogs.  The  non-Chris- 
tians were  let  alone. 

On  the  afternoon  of  April  4th  a  cordon  of  police 
and  gendarmes  was  suddenly  picketed  all  around 
the  missionary  quarter  in  Pyeng-yang,  and  officials, 
police  and  detectives  made  an  elaborate  search  of 
the  houses.  Some  copies  of  an  Independence  news- 
paper, a  bit  of  paper  with  a  statement  of  the  num- 
bers killed  at  Anju,  and  a  copy  of  the  program  of 
the  memorial  service  were  found  among  the  papers 
of  Dr.  Moffett's  secretary,  and  two  copies  of  a 
mimeographed  notice  in  Korean,  thin  paper  rolled 
up  into  a  thin  ball  and  thrown  away,  were  found  in 
an  outhouse.  The  secretary  was  arrested,  bound, 
beaten  and  hauled  off.  Other  Koreans  found  on 
the  premises  were  treated  in  similar  fashion.  One 
man  was  knocked  down,  beaten  and  kicked  on  the 
head  several  times. 

Dr.  Moffett  and  the  Rev.  E.  M.  Mowry,  another 
American  Presbyterian  missionary  from  Mansfield, 


THE  KEIGN  OP  TEKROB  IK  PYENG-YAKG    289 

Ohio,  were  ordered  to  the  police  office  that  even- 
ing, and  cross-examined.  Dr.  Moffett  convinced 
the  authorities  that  he  knew  nothing  of  the  inde- 
pendence movement  and  had  taken  no  part  in  it 
(he  felt  bound,  as  a  missionary,  not  to  take  part  in 
political  affairs),  but  Mr.  Mowry  was  detained  on 
the  charge  of  sheltering  Korean  agitators. 

Mr.  Mowry  had  allowed  five  Korean  students 
wanted  by  the  police  to  remain  in  his  house  for  two 
days  early  in  March.  Some  of  them  were  his  stu- 
dents and  one  was  his  former  secretary;  Mr. 
Mowry  was  a  teacher  at  the  Union  Christian  Col- 
lege, and  principal  of  both  the  boys'  and  girls' 
grammar  schools  at  Pyeng-yang.  Mr.  Mowry  de- 
clared that  Koreans  often  slept  at  his  house,  and 
he  had  no  knowledge  that  the  police  were  trying  to 
arrest  these  lads. 

The  missionary  was  kept  in  jail  for  ten  days. 
His  friends  were  told  that  he  would  probably  be 
sent  to  Seoul  for  trial.  Then  he  was  suddenly 
brought  before  the  Pyeng-yang  court,  no  time  be- 
ing given  for  him  to  obtain  counsel,  and  was  sen- 
tenced to  six  months'  penal  servitude.  He  was  led 
away  wearing  the  prisoners'  cap,  a  wicker  basket, 
placed  over  the  head  and  face. 

An  appeal  was  at  once  entered,  and  eventually 
the  conviction  was  quashed,  and  a  new  trial 
ordered. 


XVII 
GIRL  MARTYRS  FOR  LIBERTY 

THE  most  extraordinary  feature  of  the  up- 
rising of  the  Korean  people  is  the  part 
taken  in  it  by  the  girls  and  women.  Less 
than  twenty  years  ago,  a  man  might  live  in  Korea 
for  years  and  never  come  in  contact  with  a  Korean 
woman  of  the  better  classes,  never  meet  her  on  the 
street,  never  see  her  in  the  homes  of  his  Korean 
friends.  I  have  lived  for  a  week  or  two  at  a  time, 
in  the  old  days,  in  the  house  of  a  Korean  man  of 
high  class,  and  have  never  once  seen  his  wife  or 
daughters.  In  Japan  in  those  days — and  with 
many  families  the  same  holds  true  to-day — when 
one  was  invited  as  a  guest,  the  wife  would  receive 
you,  bow  to  the  guest  and  her  lord,  and  then  would 
humbly  retire,  not  sitting  to  table  with  the  men. 

Christian  teaching  and  modern  ways  broke  down 
the  barrier  in  Korea.  The  young  Korean  women 
took  keenly  to  the  new  mode  of  life.  The  girls  in 
the  schools,  particularly  in  the  Government  schools, 
led  the  way  in  the  demand  for  the  restoration  of 
their  national  life.  There  were  many  quaint  and 
touching  incidents.  In  the  missionary  schools,  the 
chief  fear  of  the  girls  was  lest  they  should  bring 
trouble  on  their  American  teachers.  The  head 
mistress  of  one  of  these  schools  noticed  for  some 

290 


GIEL  MAETYES  FOR  LIBEETY  291 

days  that  her  girls  were  unusually  excited*  She 
heard  them  asking  one  another,  "  Have  you  en- 
rolled?" and  imagined  that  some  new  girlish  league 
was  being  formed.  This  was  before  the  great  day. 
One  morning  the  head  mistress  came  down  to  dis- 
cover the  place  empty.  On  her  desk  was  a  paper 
signed  by  all  the  girls,  resigning  their  places  in  the 
school.  They  thought  that  by  this  device  they 
would  show  that  their  beloved  head  mistress  was 
not  responsible. 

Soon  there  came  a  call  from  the  Chief  of  Police. 
The  mistress  was  wanted  at  the  police  office  at 
once.  All  the  girls  from  her  school  were  demon- 
strating and  had  stirred  up  the  whole  town.  Would 
the  mistress  come  and  disperse  them? 

The  mistress  hurried  off.  Sure  enough,  here 
were  the  girls  in  the  street,  wearing  national 
badges,  waving  national  flags,  calling  on  the  police 
to  come  and  take  them.  The  men  had  gathered 
and  were  shouting  "Mansei!"  also. 

The  worried  Chief  of  Police,  who  was  a  much 
more  decent  kind  than  many  of  his  fellows,  begged 
the  mistress  to  do  something.  "  I  cannot  arrest 
them  all,"  he  said.  "  I  have  only  one  little  cell 
here.  It  would  only  hold  a  few  of  them."  The 
mistress  went  out  to  talk  to  the  girls.  They  would 
not  listen,  even  to  her.  They  cheered  her,  and 
when  she  begged  them  to  go  home,  shouted  "  Man- 
sei !  "  all  the  louder. 

The  mistress  went  back  to  the  Chief.  "  The 
only  thing  for  you  to  do  is  to  arrest  me,"  she  said. 

The  Chief  was  horrified  at  the  idea.     "  I  will  go 


292  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

out  and  tell  the  girls  that  you  are  going  to  arrest 
me  if  they  do  not  go,"  she  said.  "We  will  see 
what  that  will  do.  But  mind  you,  if  they  do  not 
disperse,  you  must  arrest  me." 

She  went  out  again.  "  Girls,"  she  called,  "  the 
Chief  of  Police  is  going  to  arrest  me  if  you  do  not 
go  to  your  homes.  I  am  your  teacher,  and  it  must 
be  the  fault  of  my  teaching  that  you  will  not  obey." 

"  No,  teacher,  no,"  the  girls  shouted.  "  It  is  not 
your  fault.  You  have  nothing  to  do  with  it.  We 
are  doing  this."  And  some  of  them  rushed  up,  as 
though  they  would  rescue  her  by  force  of  arms. 

In  the  end,  she  persuaded  the  girls  to  go  home, 
in  order  to  save  her.  "  Well,"  said  the  leaders  of 
the  girls,  "  it's  all  right  now.  We  have  done  all 
we  wanted.  We  have  stirred  up  the  men.  They 
were  sheep  and  wanted  women  to  make  a  start. 
Now  they  will  go  on." 

The  police  and  gendarmerie  generally  were  not 
so  merciful  as  this  particular  Chief.  The  rule  in 
many  police  stations  was  to  strip  and  beat  the  girls 
and  young  women  who  took  any  part  in  the  demon- 
strations, and  to  expose  them,  absolutely  naked,  to 
as  many  Japanese  men  as  possible.  The  Korean 
woman  is  as  sensitive  as  a  white  woman  about  the 
display  of  her  person,  and  the  Japanese,  knowing 
this,  delighted  to  have  this  means  of  humiliating 
them.  In  some  towns,  the  schoolgirls  arranged  to 
go  out  in  sections,  so  many  one  day,  so  many  on  the 
other.  The  girls  who  had  to  go  out  on  the  later 
days  knew  how  those  who  had  preceded  them  had 
been  stripped  and  beaten.     Anticipating  that  they 


GIRL  MARTYRS  FOR  LIBERTY  293 

would  be  treated  in  the  same  way,  they  sat  up  the 
night  before  sewing  special  undergarments  on 
themselves,  which  would  not  be  so  easily  removed 
as  their  ordinary  clothes,  hoping  that  they  might 
thus  avoid  being  stripped  entirely  naked. 

The  girls  were  most  active  of  all  in  the  city  of 
Seoul.  I  have  mentioned  in  the  previous  chapter 
the  arrest  of  many  of  them.  They  were  treated  very 
badly  indeed.  Take,  for  instance,  the  case  of  those 
seized  by  the  police  on  the  morning  of  Wednes- 
day, March  5th.  They  were  nearly  all  of  them 
pupils  from  the  local  academies.  Some  of  them 
were  demonstrating  on  Chong-no,  the  main  street, 
shouting  "  Mansei."  Others  were  wearing  straw 
shoes,  a  sign  of  mourning,  for  the  dead  Emperor. 
Still  others  were  arrested  because  the  police 
thought  that  they  might  be  on  the  way  to  demon- 
strate. A  few  of  these  girls  were  released  after  a 
spell  in  prison.  On  their  release,  their  statements 
concerning  their  treatment  were  independently  re- 
corded. 

They  were  first  taken  to  the  Chong-no  Police  Sta- 
tion, where  a  body  of  about  twenty  Japanese  police- 
men kicked  them  with  their  heavy  boots,  slapped 
their  cheeks  or  punched  their  heads.  "  They  flung 
me  against  a  wall  with  all  their  might,  so  that  I  was 
knocked  senseless,  and  remained  so  for  a  time," 
said  one.  "  They  struck  me  such  blows  across  the 
ears  that  my  cheeks  swelled  up,"  said  another. 
"  They  trampled  on  my  feet  with  their  heavy  nailed 
boots  till  I  felt  as  though  my  toes  were  crushed  be- 
neath them.     .     .     .     There  was  a  great  crowd  of 


294  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

students,  both  girls  and  boys.  They  slapped  the 
girls  over  the  ears,  kicked  them,  and  tumbled  them 
in  the  corners.  Some  of  them  they  took  by  the 
hair,  jerking  both  sides  of  the  face.  Some  of  the 
boy  students  they  fastened  down  with  a  rope  till 
they  had  their  heads  fastened  between  their  legs. 
Then  they  trampled  them  with  their  heavy  boots, 
kicking  them  in  their  faces  till  their  eyes  were 
swelled  and  blood  flowed." 

Seventy-five  persons,  forty  men  and  thirty-five 
girls,  were  confined  in  a  small  room.  The  door 
was  closed,  and  the  atmosphere  soon  became  dread- 
ful. In  vain  they  pleaded  to  have  the  door  open. 
The  girls  were  left  until  midnight  without  food  or 
water.  The  men  were  removed  at  about  ten  in  the 
evening. 

During  the  day,  the  prisoners  were  taken  one  by 
one  before  police  officials  to  be  examined.  Here 
is  the  narrative  of  one  of  the  schoolgirls.  This 
girl  was  dazed  and  almost  unconscious  from  ill- 
treatment  and  the  poisoned  air,  when  she  was 
dragged  before  her  inquisitor. 

"  I  was  cross-questioned  three  times.  When  I 
went  out  to  the  place  of  examination  they  charged 
me  with  having  straw  shoes,  and  so  beat  me  over 
the  head  with  a  stick.  I  had  no  sense  left  with 
which  to  make  a  reply.     They  asked: 

"  '  Why  did  you  wear  straw  shoes?  ' 

" '  The  King  had  died,  and  whenever  Koreans 
are  in  mourning  they  wear  straw  shoes.' 

" '  That  is  a  lie,'  said  the  cross-examiner.  He 
then  arose  and  took  my  mouth  in  his  two  hands 


GIRL  MARTYRS  FOR  LIBERTY  295 

and  pulled  it  each  way  so  that  it  bled.  I  main- 
tained that  I  had  told  the  truth  and  no  falsehoods. 
■  You  Christians  are  all  liars,'  he  replied,  taking  my 
arm  and  giving  it  a  pull. 

"...  The  examiner  then  tore  open  my 
jacket  and  said,  sneeringly,  '  I  congratulate  you.' 
He  then  slapped  my  face,  struck  me  with  a  stick 
until  I  was  dazed  and  asked  again, '  Who  instigated 
you  to  do  this?     Did  foreigners?  ' 

"  My  answer  was,  '  I  do  not  know  any  foreigners, 
but  only  the  principal  of  the  school.  She  knows 
nothing  of  this  plan  of  ours ! ' 

"  '  Lies,  only  lies,'  said  the  examiner. 

"  Not  only  I,  but  others  too,  suffered  every  kind 
of  punishment.  One  kind  of  torture  was  to  make 
us  hold  a  board  at  arm's  length  and  hold  it  out  by 
the  hour.  They  also  had  a  practice  of  twisting  our 
legs,  while  they  spat  on  our  faces.  When  ordered 
to  undress,  one  person  replied,  '  I  am  not  guilty  of 
any  offence.  Why  should  I  take  off  my  clothes 
before  you? ' 

" '  If  you  really  were  guilty,  you  would  not  be 
required  to  undress,  but  seeing  you  are  sinless,  off 
with  your  clothes/  " 

He  was  a  humorous  fellow,  this  cross-examiner 
of  the  Chong-no  Police  Station.  He  had  evidently 
learned  something  of  the  story  of  Adam  and  Eve 
in  the  Garden  of  Eden.  His  way  was  first  to 
charge  the  girls — schoolgirls  of  good  family,  mind 
you — with  being  pregnant,  making  every  sort  of 
filthy  suggestion  to  them.  When  the  girls  indig- 
nantly denied,  he  would  order  them  to  strip. 


296  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

"  Since  you  maintain  you  have  not  sinned  in  any 
way,  I  see  the  Bible  says  that  if  there  is  no  sin  in 
you  take  off  all  your  clothes  and  go  before  all  the 
people  naked,"  he  told  one  girl.  "  Sinless  people 
live  naked." 

Let  us  tell  the  rest  of  the  story  in  the  girl's  own 
words.  "  The  officer  then  came  up  to  where  I  was 
standing,  and  tried  to  take  off  my  clothes.  I  cried, 
and  protested,  and  struggled,  saying,  '  This  is  not 
the  way  to  treat  a  woman.'  He  desisted.  When 
he  was  making  these  vile  statements  about  us,  he 
did  not  use  the  Korean  interpreter,  but  spoke  in 
broken  Korean.  The  Korean  interpreter  seemed 
sorrowful  while  these  vile  things  were  being  said 
by  the  operator.  The  Korean  interpreter  was  or- 
dered to  beat  me.  He  said  he  would  not  beat  a 
woman;  he  would  bite  his  fingers  first.  So  the 
officer  beat  me  with  his  fist  on  my  shoulders,  face 
and  legs." 

These  examinations  were  continued  for  days. 
Sometimes  a  girl  would  be  examined  several  times 
a  day.  Sometimes  a  couple  of  examiners  would 
rush  at  her,  beating  and  kicking  her;  sometimes 
they  would  make  her  hold  a  chair  or  heavy  board 
out  at  full  length,  beating  her  if  she  let  it  sink  in  the 
least.  Then  when  she  was  worn  out  they  would 
renew  their  examination.  The  questions  were  all 
directed  towards  one  end,  to  discover  who  inspired 
them,  and  more  particularly  if  any  foreigners  or 
missionaries  had  influenced  them.  During  this 
time  they  were  kept  under  the  worst  possible  con- 
ditions. 


GIEL  MAETYES  FOE  LIBEETY  297 

"  I  cannot  recount  all  the  vile  things  that  were 
said  to  us  while  in  the  police  quarters  in  Chong-no," 
declared  one  of  the  girls.  "  They  are  too  obscene 
to  be  spoken,  but  by  the  kindness  of  the  Lord  I 
thought  of  how  Paul  had  suffered  in  prison,  and 
was  greatly  comforted.  I  knew  that  God  would 
give  the  needed  help,  and  as  I  bore  it  for  my  coun- 
try, I  did  not  feel  the  shame  and  misery  of  it"  One 
American  woman,  to  whom  some  of  the  girls  re- 
lated their  experiences,  said  to  me,  "  I  cannot  tell 
you,  a  man,  all  that  these  girls  told  us.  I  will  only 
say  this.  There  have  been  stories  of  girls  having 
their  arms  cut  off.  If  these  girls  had  been  daugh- 
ters of  mine  I  would  rather  that  they  had  their 
arms  cut  off  than  that  they  faced  what  those  girls 
endured  in  Chong-no." 

There  came  a  day  when  the  girls  were  bound  at 
the  wrists,  all  fastened  together,  and  driven  in  a 
car  to  the  prison  outside  the  West  Gate.  Some  of 
them  were  crying.  They  were  not  allowed  to  look 
up  or  speak.  The  driver,  a  Korean,  took  advan- 
tage of  a  moment  when  the  attention  of  their  guard 
was  attracted  to  whisper  a  word  of  encouragement. 
"  Don't  be  discouraged  and  make  your  bodies 
weak.  You  are  not  yet  condemned.  This  is  only 
to  break  your  spirits." 

The  prison  outside  the  West  Gate  is  a  model 
Japanese  jail.  There  were  women  officials  here. 
It  seemed  horrible  to  the  girls  that  they  should  be 
made  to  strip  in  front  of  men  and  be  examined  by 
them.  Probably  the  men  were  prison  doctors. 
But  it  was  evidently  intended  to  shame  them  as 


29S  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

much  as  possible.  Thus  one  girl  relates  that,  after 
her  examination,  "  I  was  told  to  take  my  clothes 
and  go  into  another  room.  One  woman  went  with 
me,  about  a  hundred  yards  or  more  away.  I 
wanted  to  put  my  clothes  on  before  leaving  the 
room,  but  they  hurried  me  and  pushed  me.  I 
wrapped  my  skirt  about  my  body  before  I  went 
out,  and  carried  the  rest  of  my  clothes  in  my  arms. 
After  leaving  this  room,  and  before  reaching  the 
other,  five  Korean  men  prisoners  passed  us." 

For  the  first  week  the  girls,  many  of  them  in 
densely  crowded  cells,  were  kept  in  close  confine- 
ment. After  this,  they  were  allowed  out  for  fifteen 
minutes,  wearing  the  prisoners'  hat,  which  comes 
down  over  the  head,  after  breakfast.  Their  food 
was  beans  and  millet.  It  was  given  to  the  accom- 
paniment of  jeers  and  insults.  "  You  Koreans  eat 
like  dogs  and  cats,"  the  wardresses  told  them. 

The  routine  of  life  in  the  prison  was  very  trying. 
They  got  up  at  seven.  Most  of  the  day  they  had 
to  assume  a  haunched,  kneeling  position,  and  re- 
main absolutely  still,  hour  after  hour.  The  ward- 
resses in  the  corridors  kept  close  watch,  and  woe  to 
the  girl  who  made  the  slightest  move.  "  They  or- 
dered us  not  to  move  a  hand  or  a  foot  but  to  remain 
perfectly  still,"  wrote  one  girl.  "  Even  the  slight- 
est movement  brought  down  every  kind  of  wrath. 
We  did  not  dare  to  move  even  a  toe-nail." 

One  unhappy  girl,  mistaking  the  call  of  an  offi- 
cial in  the  corridor,  "  I-ri-ma  sen  "  for  a  command 
to  go  to  sleep,  stretched  out  her  leg  to  lie  down. 
She  was  scolded  and  severely  punished.     Another 


GIRL  MARTYRS  FOR  LIBERTY  299 

closed  her  eyes  in  prayer.  "  You  are  sleeping," 
called  the  wardress.  In  vain  the  girl  replied  that 
she  was  praying.  "  You  lie,"  retorted  the  polite 
Japanese  lady.     More  punishment! 

After  fifteen  days  in  the  prison  outside  the  West 
Gate,  some  of  the  girls  were  called  in  the  office. 
"  Go,  but  be  very  careful  not  to  repeat  your  of- 
fence," they  were  told.  "  If  you  are  caught  again, 
you  will  be  given  a  heavier  punishment." 

The  worst  happenings  with  the  women  were  not 
in  the  big  towns,  where  the  presence  of  white  peo- 
ple exercised  some  restraint,  but  in  villages,  where 
the  new  troops  often  behaved  in  almost  incredible 
fashion,  outraging  freely.  The  police  in  many  of 
these  outlying  parts  rivalled  the  military  in  bru- 
tality. Of  the  many  stories  that  reached  me,  the 
tale  of  Tong  Chun  stands  out.  The  account  was 
investigated  by  experienced  white  men,  who 
shortly  afterwards  visited  the  place  and  saw  for 
themselves. 

The  village  of  Tong  Chun  contains  about  300 
houses  and  is  the  site  of  a  Christian  church.  The 
young  men  of  the  place  wished  to  make  a  demon- 
stration but  the  elders  of  the  church  dissuaded 
them  for  a  time.  However,  on  March  29th,  mar- 
ket day,  when  there  were  many  people  in  the  place, 
some  children  started  demonstrating,  and  their 
elders  followed,  a  crowd  of  four  or  five  hundred 
people  marching  through  the  streets  and  shouting 
"Mansei!"  There  was  no  violence  of  any  kind. 
The  police  came  out  and  arrested  seventeen  per- 
sons, including  five  women. 


300  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

One  of  these  women  was  a  widow  of  thirty-one. 
She  was  taken  into  the  police  office  and  a  policeman 
tore  off  her  clothes,  leaving  her  in  her  underwear. 
Then  the  police  began  to  take  off  her  underclothes. 
She  protested,  whereupon  they  struck  her  in  the 
face  with  their  hands  till  she  was  black  and  blue. 
She  still  clung  to  her  clothes,  so  they  put  a  wooden 
paddle  down  between  her  legs  and  tore  her  clothes 
away.  Then  they  beat  her.  The  beating  took  a 
long  time.  When  it  was  finished  the  police  stopped 
to  drink  tea  and  eat  Japanese  cakes,  they  and  their 
companions — there  were  a  number  of  men  in  the 
room — amusing  themselves  by  making  fun  of  her 
as  she  sat  there  naked  among  them.  She  was  sub- 
sequently released.  For  a  week  afterwards  she 
had  to  lie  down  most  of  the  time  and  could  not 
walk  around. 

Another  victim  was  the  wife  of  a  Christian 
teacher,  a  very  bright,  intelligent  woman,  with  one 
child  four  months  old,  and  two  or  three  months  ad- 
vanced in  her  second  pregnancy.  She  had  taken  a 
small  part  in  the  demonstration  and  then  had  gone 
to  the  home  of  the  mother  of  another  woman  who 
had  been  arrested,  to  comfort  her.  Police  came 
here,  and  demanded  if  she  had  shouted  "  Mansei." 
She  admitted  that  she  had.  They  ordered  her  to 
leave  the  child  that  she  was  carrying  on  her  back 
and  took  her  to  the  police  station.  As  she  entered 
the  station  a  man  kicked  her  forcibly  from  behind 
and  she  fell  forward  in  the  room.  As  she  lay  there 
a  policeman  put  his  foot  on  her  neck,  then  raised 
her  up  and  struck  her  again  and  again.     She  was 


GIRL  MARTYRS  FOR  LIBERTY  301 

ordered  to  undress.  She  hesitated,  whereupon  the 
policeman  kicked  her,  and  took  up  a  paddle 
and  a  heavy  stick  to  beat  her  with.  "  You  are  a 
teacher,"  he  cried.  "  You  have  set  the  minds  of 
the  children  against  Japan.  I  will  beat  you  to 
death." 

He  tore  her  underclothes  off.  Still  clinging  to 
them,  she  tried  to  cover  her  nakedness.  The 
clothes  were  torn  out  of  her  hands.  She  tried  to 
sit  down.  They  forced  her  up.  She  tried  by  turn- 
ing to  the  wall  to  conceal  herself  from  the  many 
men  in  the  room.  They  forced  her  to  turn  round 
again.  When  she  tried  to  shelter  herself  with  her 
hands,  one  man  twisted  her  arms,  held  them  behind 
her  back,  and  kept  them  there  while  the  beating 
and  kicking  continued.  She  was  so  badly  hurt  that 
she  would  have  fallen  to  the  floor,  but  they  held  her 
up  to  continue  the  beating.  She  was  then  sent  into 
another  room.  Later  she  and  other  women  were 
again  brought  in  the  office.  "  Do  you  know  now 
how  wrong  it  is  to  call  'Mansei'?"  the  police 
asked.  "  Will  you  ever  dare  to  do  such  a  thing 
again?  " 

Gradually  news  of  how  the  women  were  being 
treated  spread.  A  crowd  of  five  hundred  people 
gathered  next  morning.  The  hot  bloods  among 
them  were  for  attacking  the  station,  to  take  re- 
venge for  the  ill-treatment  of  their  women.  The 
chief  Christian  kept  them  back,  and  finally  a  depu- 
tation of  two  went  inside  the  police  office  to  make  a 
protest.  They  spoke  up  against  the  stripping  of 
the  women,  declaring  it  unlawful.     The  Chief  of 


302  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FEEEDOM 

Police  replied  that  they  were  mistaken.  It  was 
permitted  under  Japanese  law.  They  had  to  strip 
them  to  search  for  unlawful  papers.  Then  the  men 
asked  why  only  the  younger  women  were  stripped, 
and  not  the  older,  why  they  were  beaten  after  be- 
ing stripped,  and  why  only  women  and  not  men 
were  stripped.     The  Chief  did  not  reply. 

By  this  time  the  crowd  was  getting  very  ugly. 
"  Put  us  in  prison  too,  or  release  the  prisoners,"  the 
people  called.  In  the  end  the  Chief  agreed  to  re- 
lease all  but  four  of  the  prisoners. 

Soon  afterwards  the  prisoners  emerged  from  the 
station.  One  woman,  a  widow  of  thirty-two  who 
had  been  arrested  on  the  previous  day  and  very 
badly  kicked  by  the  police,  had  to  be  supported  on 
either  side.  The  wife  of  the  Christian  teacher  had 
to  be  carried  on  a  man's  back.  Let  me  quote  from 
a  description  written  by  those  on  the  spot: 

"  As  they  saw  the  women  being  brought  out,  in 
this  condition,  a  wave  of  pity  swept  over  the  whole 
crowd,  and  with  one  accord  they  burst  into  tears 
and  sobbed.  Some  of  them  cried  out,  '  It  is  better 
to  die  than  to  live  under  such  savages,'  and  many 
urged  that  they  should  attack  the  police  office  with 
their  naked  hands,  capture  the  Chief  of  Police,  strip 
him  and  beat  him  to  death.  But  the  Christian 
elder  and  other  wiser  heads  prevailed,  kept  the 
people  from  any  acts  of  violence,  and  finally  got 
them  to  disperse." 


XVIII 
WORLD    REACTIONS 

ON  April  23rd,  at  a  time  when  the  persecu- 
tion was  at  its  height,  delegates,  duly 
elected  by  each  of  the  thirteen  provinces 
of  Korea,  met,  under  the  eyes  of  the  Japanese  po- 
lice, in  Seoul,  and  adopted  a  constitution,  creating 
the  Republic. 

Dr.  Syngman  Rhee,  the  young  reformer  of  1894, 
who  had  suffered  long  imprisonment  for  the  cause 
of  independence,  was  elected  the  first  President. 
Dr.  Rhee  was  now  in  America,  and  he  promptly  es- 
tablished headquarters  in  Washington,  from  which 
to  conduct  a  campaign  in  the  interests  of  his  people. 
Diplomatically,  of  course,  the  new  Republican  or- 
ganization could  not  be  recognized;  but  there  are 
many  ways  in  which  such  a  body  can  work. 

The  First  Ministry  included  several  men  who 
had  taken  a  prominent  part  in  reform  work  in  the 
past.     The  list  was : 

Prime  Minister Tong  Hui  Yee 

Minister  Foreign  Affairs Yongman  Park 

Minister  of  Interior Tong  Yung  Yee 

Minister  of  War Pak  Yin  Roe 

Minister  of  Finance Si  Yung  Yee 

Minister  of  Law Kiu  Sik  Cynn 

3°3 


304  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

Minister  of  Education Kiusic  Kimm 

Minister  of  Communications Chang  Bum  Moon 

Director  Bureau  of  Labour Chang  Ho  Ahn 

Chief  of  Staff Tong  Yul  Lew- 
Vice  Chief  of  Staff Sei  Yung  Lee 

Vice  Chief  of  Staff Nan  Soo  Hahn 

The  Provisional  Constitution  was  essentially 
democratic  and  progressive: 

Provisional  Constitution 

By  the  will  of  God,  the  people  of  Korea,  both  within 
and  without  the  country,  have  united  in  a  peaceful  dec- 
laration of  their  independence,  and  for  over  one  month 
have  carried  on  their  demonstrations  in  over  300  districts, 
and  because  of  their  faith  in  the  movement  they  have  by 
their  representatives  chosen  a  Provisional  Government 
to  carry  on  to  completion  this  independence  and  so  to 
preserve  blessings  for  our  children  and  grandchildren. 

The  Provisional  Government,  in  its  Council  of  State, 
has  decided  on  a  Provisional  Constitution,  which  it  now 
proclaims. 

1.  The  Korean  Republic  shall  follow  republican  prin- 
ciples. 

2.  All  powers  of  State  shall  rest  with  the  Provisional 
Council  of  State  of  the  Provisional  Government. 

3.  There  shall  be  no  class  distinction  among  the 
citizens  of  the  Korean  Republic,  but  men  and  women, 
noble  and  common,  rich  and  poor,  shall  have  equality. 

4.  The  citizens  of  the  Korean  Republic  shall  have  re- 
ligious liberty,  freedom  of  speech,  freedom  of  writing 
and  publication,  the  right  to  hold  public  meetings  and 
form  social  organizations  and  the  full  right  to  choose 
their  dwellings  or  change  their  abode. 

5.  The  citizens  of  the  Korean  Republic  shall  have  the 
right  to  vote  for  all  public  officials  or  to  be  elected  to 
public  office. 

6.  Citizens  will  be  subject  to  compulsory  education 
and  military  service  and  payment  of  taxes. 


WORLD  REACTIONS  305 

7.  Since  by  the  will  of  God  the  Korean  Republic  has 
arisen  in  the  world  and  has  come  forward  as  a  tribute 
to  the  world  peace  and  civilization,  for  this  reason  we 
wish  to  become  a  member  of  the  League  of  Nations. 

8.  The  Korean  Republic  will  extend  benevolent  treat- 
ment to  the  former  Imperial  Family. 

9.  The  death  penalty,  corporal  punishment  and  public 
prostitution  will  be  abolished. 

10.  Within  one  year  of  the  recovery  of  our  land  the 
National  Congress  will  be  convened. 

Signed  by  : 

The  Provisional  Secretary  of  State, 
And  the  Ministers  of  Foreign  Affairs, 
Home  Affairs, 
Justice, 
Finance, 
War, 
Communications. 

In  the  1st  Year  of  the  Korean  Republic,  4th  Month. 
The  following  are  six  principles  of  government : 

1.  We  proclaim  the  equality  of  the  people  and  the 
State. 

2.  The  lives  and  property  of  foreigners  shall  be  re- 
spected. 

3.  All  political  offenders  shall  be  specially  pardoned. 

4.  We  will  observe  all  treaties  that  shall  be  made 
with  foreign  powers. 

5.  We  swear  to  stand  by  the  independence  of  Korea. 

6.  Those  who  disregard  the  orders  of  the  Provisional 
Government  will  be  regarded  as  enemies  of  the  State. 

The  National  Council  issued  a  statement  of  its 
aims  and  purpose: 

April  22,  igip. 

We,  the  people  of  Korea,  represented  by  thirty-three 

men,  including  Son  Pyeng  Heui,  have  already  made  the 

Declaration  of  Independence  of  Korea,   found  on  the 

principle  of  righteousness  and  humanity.    With  a  view; 


306  KOBEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

to  upholding  the  authority  of  the  Declaration,  solidifying 
the  foundations  of  the  Independence,  and  meeting  the 
natural  needs  of  humanity,  we,  by  combining  the  large 
and  small  groups  and  the  provincial  representatives,  have 
organized  the  Korean  National  Council,  and  hereby  pro- 
claim it  to  the  world. 

We,  the  people  of  Korea,  have  a  history  of  over  forty- 
two  centuries,  as  a  self-governing  and  separate  state, 
and  of  special,  creative  civilization,  and  are  a  peace- 
loving  race.  We  claim  a  right  to  be  sharers  in  the 
world's  enlightenment,  and  contributors  in  the  evolution 
of  mankind.  With  a  distinctive  and  world-wide  glorious 
past,  and  with  our  healthy  national  spirit,  we  should 
never  be  subjected  to  inhuman  and  unnatural  oppression, 
nor  assimilation  by  another  race;  and  still  less  could  we 
submit  to  the  materialistic  subjugation  by  the  Japanese, 
whose  spiritual  civilization  is  2,000  years  behind  ours. 

The  world  knows  that  Japan  has  violated  the  sworn 
treaties  of  the  past  and  is  robbing  us  of  the  right  of 
existence.  We,  however,  are  not  discussing  the  wrongs 
done  us. by  the  Japanese  in  the  past,  nor  considering 
their  accumulated  sins;  but,  in  order  to  guarantee  our 
rights  of  existence,  extend  liberty  and  equality,  safe- 
guard righteousness  and  humanity,  maintain  the  peace 
of  the  Orient,  and  respect  the  equitable  welfare  of  the 
whole  world,  do  claim  the  independence  of  Korea.  This 
is  truly  the  will  of  God,  motivation  of  truth,  just  claim, 
and  legitimate  action.  By  this  the  world's  verdict  is  to 
be  won,  and  the  repentance  of  Japan  hastened. 

At  this  time,  when  the  militarism  which  once  threat- 
ened the  peace  of  the  world  is  brought  to  submission, 
and  when  the  world  is  being  reconstructed  for  a  lasting 
peace,  will  Japan  refuse  self -reflection  and  self-awaken- 
ing? Obstinate  clinging  to  the  errors,  which  have  gone 
contrary  to  the  times  and  nature,  will  result  in  nothing 
but  the  diminution  of  the  happiness  of  the  two  peoples 
and  endangering  of  the  peace  of  the  world.  This  council 
demands  with  all  earnestness  that  the  government  of 
Japan  abandon  as  early  as  possible  the  inhuman  policy 
of  aggression  and  firmly  safeguard  the   tripodic  relation- 


WORLD  REACTIONS  307 

ship  of  the  Far  East,  and  further  duly  warn  the  people 
of  Japan. 

Can  it  be  that  the  conscience  of  mankind  will  calmly 
witness  the  cruel  atrocities  visited  upon  us  by  the  bar- 
barous military  power  of  Japan  for  our  actions  in  behalf 
of  the  rights  of  life  founded  upon  civilization  ?  The  devo- 
tion and  blood  of  our  20,000,000  will  never  cease  nor 
dry  under  this  unrighteous  oppression.  If  Japan  does 
not  repent  and  mend  her  ways  for  herself,  our  race  will 
be  obliged  to  take  the  final  action,  to  the  limit  of  the 
last  man  and  the  last  minute,  which  will  secure  the  com- 
plete independence  of  Korea.  What  enemy  will  with- 
stand when  our  race  marches  forward  with  righteousness 
and  humanity  ?  With  our  utmost  devotion  and  best  labour 
we  demand  before  the  world  our  national  independence 
and  racial  autonomy. 

The  Korean  National  Council 
Representatives  of  the  thirteen  Provinces : 

Yee  Man  Jik  Kim  Hyung  Sun 

Yee  Nai  Su  Yu  Keun 

Pak  Han  Yung  Kang  Ji  Yung 

Pak  Chang  Ho  Chang  Seung 

Yee  Yeng  Jun  Kim  Heyen  Chun 

Choi  Chun  Koo  Kim  Ryu 

Yee  Yong  Kiu  Kim  Sig 

YuSikKiu  Chulk 

Yu  Jang  Wuk  Hong  Seung  Wuk 

Song  Ji  Hun  Chang  Chun 

Yee  Tong  Wuk  Chung  Tarn  Kio 

Kim  Taik  Pak  Tak 
Kang  Hoon 

Resolutions 

That  a  Provisional  Government  shall  be  organized. 

That  a  demand  be  made  of  the  Government  of  Japan 
to  withdraw  the  administrative  and  military  organs  from 
Korea. 

That  a  delegation  shall  be  appointed  to  the  Paris  Peace 
Conference. 


308  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

That  the  Koreans  in  the  employ  of  the  Japanese  Gov- 
ernment shall  withdraw. 

That  the  people  shall  refuse  to  pay  taxes  to  the  Japa- 
nese Government. 

That  the  people  shall  not  bring  petitions  or  litigations 
before  the  Japanese  Government. 


It  was  expected  in  Korea  that  there  would  be  an 
immediate  agitation  in  America  to  secure  redress 
for  the  Koreans.  There  was  some  disappointment 
here.  There  is  no  reason  why  the  full  reasons 
should  not  be  made  public. 

The  missionary  organizations  mainly  represented 
in  Korea  are  also  strongly  represented  in  Japan. 
Their  officials  at  their  headquarters  are  almost 
forced  to  adopt  what  can  be  politely  described  as  a 
statesmanlike  attitude  over  matters  of  controversy 
between  different  countries.  When  Mr.  Arm- 
strong, of  the  Methodist  Board  of  Missions  of  Can- 
ada, arrived  in  America,  burning  with  indignation 
over  what  he  had  seen,  he  found  among  the  Ameri- 
can leaders  a  spirit  of  great  caution.  They  did  not 
want  to  offend  Japan,  nor  to  injure  Christianity 
there.  And  there  was  a  feeling — a  quite  honest 
feeling, — that  they  might  accomplish  more  by  ap- 
pealing to  the  better  side  of  Japan  than  by  frankly 
proclaiming  the  truth.  The  whole  matter  was  re- 
ferred, by  the  Presbyterian  and  Methodist  Boards, 
to  the  Commission  on  Relations  with  the  Orient  of 
the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches,  a  body  repre- 
senting the  Churches  as  a  whole. 


WOELD  REACTIONS  309 

The  Secretary  of  the  Federal  Council  is  the  Rev. 
Sydney  Gulick,  the  most  active  defender  of  Japa- 
nese interests  of  any  European  or  American  to-day. 
Mr.  Gulick  lived  a  long  time  in  Japan;  he  sees 
things,  inevitably,  from  a  Japanese  point  of  view. 
He  at  once  acted  as  though  he  were  resolved  to 
keep  the  matter  from  the  public  gaze.  This  was 
the  course  recommended  by  the  Japanese  Consul- 
General  Yada  at  New  York.  Private  pressure  was 
brought  on  the  Japanese  authorities,  and  the  prepa- 
ration of  a  report  was  begun  in  very  leisurely 
fashion. 

Every  influence  that  Mr.  Gulick  possessed  was 
exercised  to  prevent  premature  publicity.  The  re- 
port of  the  Federal  Council  was  not  issued  until  be- 
tween four  and  five  months  after  the  atrocities  be- 
gan. A  Presbyterian  organization,  The  New  Era 
Movement,  issued  a  stinging  report  on  its  own  ac- 
count, a  few  days  before.  The  report  of  the  Fed- 
erated Council  was  preceded  by  a  cablegram  from 
Mr.  Hara,  the  Japanese  President,  declaring  that 
the  report  of  abuses  committed  by  agents  of  the 
Japanese  Government  in  Korea  had  been  engaging 
his  most  serious  attention.  "  I  am  fully  prepared 
to  look  squarely  at  actual  facts." 

The  report  itself,  apart  from  a  brief,  strongly 
pro- Japanese  introduction,  consisted  of  a  series  of 
statements  by  missionaries  and  others  in  Korea, 
and  was  as  outspoken  and  frank  as  any  one  could 
desire.  The  only  regret  was  that  it  had  not  been 
issued  immediately.     Here   was   a   situation    that 


310  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

called  for  the  pressure  of  world  public  opinion.  In 
keeping  this  back  as  long  as  possible  Mr.  Gulick,  I 
am  convinced,  did  the  cause  of  Korean  Christianity 
a  grave  injury,  and  helped  to  prevent  earlier  re- 
dress being  obtained. 

"  No  neutrality  for  brutality "  was  the  motto 
adopted  by  many  of  the  missionaries  of  Korea.  It 
is  a  good  one  for  the  Churches  as  a  whole.  There 
are  times  when  the  open  expression  of  a  little  hon- 
est indignation  is  better  than  all  the  "  ecclesiastical 
statesmanship  "  that  can  be  employed. 

In  Japan  itself,  every  effort  was  made  by  the 
authorities  to  keep  back  details  of  what  was  hap- 
pening. Mr.  Hara,  the  Progressive  Premier,  is  in 
none  too  strong  a  position.  The  military  party, 
and  the  forces  of  reaction  typified  by  Prince  Yama- 
gata,  have  too  much  power  for  him  to  do  as  much 
as  he  himself  perhaps  would.  He  consented  to  the 
institution  of  a  scheme  of  extra  severity  in  April, 
and  while  redress  was  promised  in  certain  particu- 
lar instances,  as  in  the  Suigen  outrage,  there  was 
no  desire  displayed  to  meet  the  situation  fully. 
Taxed  in  Parliament,  he  tried  to  wriggle  out  of 
admissions  that  anything  was  wrong. 

The  attitude  of  the  people  of  Japan  at  first  was 
frankly  disappointing  to  those  who  hoped  that  the 
anti-militarist  party  there  would  really  act.  One 
American-Japanese  paper,  the  Japan  Advertiser, 
sent  a  special  correspondent  to  Korea  and  his  re- 
ports were  of  the  utmost  value.  The  Japan  Chron- 
icle, the  English  owned  paper  at  Kobe,  was  equally 


WOELD  EEACTIONS  311 

outspoken.  The  Japanese  press  as  a  whole  had 
very  little  to  say;  it  had  been  officially  "  requested  " 
not  to  say  anything  about  Korea. 

The  Japanese  Constitutional  Party  sent  Mr. 
Konosuke  Morya  to  investigate  the  situation  on 
the  spot.  He  issued  a  report  declaring  that  the 
disturbances  were  due  to  the  discriminatory  treat- 
ment of  Koreans,  complicated  and  impracticable 
administrative  measures,  extreme  censorship  of 
public  speeches,  forcible  adoption  of  the  assimila- 
tion system,  and  the  spread  of  the  spirit  of  self- 
determination.  Of  the  assimilation  system  he  said, 
"  It  is  a  great  mistake  of  colonial  policy  to  attempt 
to  enforce  upon  the  Koreans,  with  a  2,000-year  his- 
tory, the  same  spiritual  and  mental  training  as  the 
Japanese  people." 

By  this  time  the  Japanese  Churches  were  begin- 
ning to  stir.  The  Federation  of  Churches  in  Japan 
sent  Dr.  Ishizaka,  Secretary  of  the  Mission  Board 
of  the  Japan  Methodist  Church,  to  enquire.  Dr. 
Ishizaka's  findings  were  published  in  the  Gokyo. 
I  am  indebted  for  a  summary  of  them  to  an  article 
by  Mr.  R.  S.  Spencer,  in  the  Christian  Advocate  of 
New  York : 

"  Dr.  Ishizaka  first  showed,  on  the  authority  of  officials, 
missionaries  and  others,  that  the  missionaries  could  in 
no  just  way  be  looked  upon  as  the  cause  of  the  dis- 
turbances. Many  Koreans  and  most  of  the  missionaries 
had  looked  hopefully  to  Japanese  control  as  offering  a 
cure  for  many  ills  of  the  old  regime,  but  in  the  ten  years 
of  occupation  feeling  had  undergone  a  complete  revulsion 
and  practically  all  were  against  the  Japanese  governing 


312  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

system.  The  reasons  he  then  sketches  as  follows:  (i) 
The  much-vaunted  educational  system  established  by  the 
Governor-General  makes  it  practically  impossible  for  a 
Korean  to  go  higher  than  the  middle  schools  (roughly 
equivalent  to  an  American  high  school)  or  a  technical 
school.  Even  when  educated  Koreans  were  universally 
discriminated  against.  In  the  same  office,  at  the  same 
work,  Koreans  receive  less  pay  than  Japanese.  (The 
quotations  are  from  the  translation  of  the  Japan  Ad- 
vertiser.) 'A  Korean  student  in  Aoyama  Gakuin,  who 
stayed  at  Bishop  Honda's  home,  became  the  head  officer 
of  the  Taikyu  district  office.  That  was  before  the  an- 
nexation. .  .  .  That  officer  is  not  in  Taikyu  now. 
He  is  serving  in  some  petty  office  in  the  country.  The 
Noko  Bank,  in  Keijo  (Seoul)  is  the  only  place  where 
the  Japanese  and  Koreans  are  treated  equally,  but  there, 
also,  the  equality  is  only  an  outward  form/  (2)  The 
depredations  of  the  Oriental  Improvement  Co.,  the  pro- 
tege of  the  government,  resulted  in  the  eviction  of  hun- 
dreds of  Korean  farmers,  who  fled  to  Manchuria  and 
Siberia,  many  dying  miserably.  The  wonderful  roads 
are  mentioned,  it  being  shown  that  they  are  built  and 
cared  for  by  forced  labour  of  the  Koreans.  That  most 
galling  and  obnoxious  of  all  bureaucratic  methods,  car- 
ried to  the  nth  power  in  Japan — the  making  out  of  end- 
less reports  and  forms — has  created  dissatisfaction.  Dr. 
Ishizaka  relates  how  an  underling  official  required  a 
Korean  of  education  to  rewrite  a  notice  of  change  of 
residence  six  times  because  he  omitted  a  dot  in  one  of 
those  atrocious  Chinese  characters,  which  are  a  hobble 
on  the  development  of  Japan.  This  last  opinion  is 
mine,  not  the  doctor's.  (3)  The  gendarmerie,  or 
military  police  system,  is  mentioned,  13,000  strong,  of 
whom  about  8,000  are  renegade  Koreans.  Admittedly 
a  rough  lot,  these  men  are  endowed  with  absolute  power 
of  search,  personal  or  domiciliary,  detention,  arrest  (and 
judging  from  the  reports,  I  would  say  torture)  without 
warrant.  Bribery  is,  of  course,  rampant  among  them. 
(4)  Associated  closely  with  the  police  system,  indeed 
controlling  it  and  the  civil  administration  and  everything 


WORLD  REACTIONS  313 

else,  is  the  military  government.  The  Governor-General 
must  be  a  military  officer.  Dr.  Ishizaka  says :  '  Milita- 
rism means  tyranny;  it  never  acts  in  open  daylight,  but 
seeks  to  cover  up  its  intentions.  The  teachers  in  pri- 
mary schools  and  even  in  girls'  schools,  that  is,  the  men 
teachers,  wear  swords/  (5)  Lastly,  Dr.  Ishizaka  speaks 
of  the  method,  which  we  can  easily  recognize  as  to 
source,  of  trying  to  '  assimilate  ■  the  Koreans  by  pro- 
hibiting the  language,  discarding  Korean  history  from 
the  schools,  repressing  customs,  etc. 

"  In  conclusion  Dr.  Ishizaka  points  out  that  not  alone 
must  these  errors  be  righted,  but  that  the  only  hope  lies 
in  the  assumption  on  the  part  of  Japanese,  public  and 
private,  of  an  attitude  of  Christian  brotherhood  towards 
the  Koreans.  He  announces  a  campaign  to  raise  money 
among  Japanese  Christians  for  the  benefit  of  Koreans 
and  their  churches." 

The  Japanese  Government  at  last  came  to  see 
that  something  must  be  done.  Count  Hasegawa, 
the  Governor-General  and  Mr.  Yamagata,  Direct- 
or-General of  Administration,  were  recalled  and 
Admiral  Baron  Saito  and  Mr.  Midzuno  were  ap- 
pointed to  succeed  them.  Numerous  other  changes 
in  personnel  were  also  made.  An  Imperial  Re- 
script was  issued  late  in  August  announcing  that 
the  Government  of  Korea  was  to  be  reformed,  and 
Mr.  Hara  in  a  statement  issued  at  the  same  time 
announced  that  the  gendarmerie  were  to  be  re- 
placed by  a  force  of  police,  under  the  control  of  the 
local  governors,  except  in  districts  where  condi- 
tions make  their  immediate  elimination  advisable, 
and  that  "  It  is  the  ultimate  purpose  of  the  Japa- 
nese Government  in  due  course  to  treat  Korea  as 
in  all  respects  on  the  same  footing  as  Japan."     Ad- 


314  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

miral  Saito,  in  interviews,  promised  the  inaugura- 
tion of  a  liberal  regime  on  the  Peninsula. 

The  change  unfortunately  does  not  touch  the 
fundamental  needs  of  the  situation.  No  doubt 
there  will  be  an  attempt  to  lessen  some  abuses. 
This  there  could  not  fail  to  be,  if  Japan  is  to  hold 
its  place  longer  among  the  civilized  Powers.  But 
Mr.  Hara's  explanation  of  the  new  program 
showed  that  the  policy  of  assimilation  is  to  be  main- 
tained, and  with  it,  the  policy  of  exploitation  can 
hardly  fail  to  be  joined. 

These  two  things  spell  renewed  failure. 


XIX 

WHAT  CAN  WE  DO? 

11  \  If  7  hat  d°  y°u  want  us  to  d°? "  men  as^ 

%/%/  me.  "  Do  you  seriously  suggest  that 
™  *  America  or  Great  Britain  should  risk 
a  breach  of  good  relations  or  even  a  war  with  Japan 
to  help  Korea?  If  not,  what  is  the  use  of  saying 
anything?  You  only  make  the  Japanese  harden 
their  hearts  still  more." 

What  can  we  do?     Everything! 

I  appeal  first  to  the  Christian  Churches  of  the 
United  States,  Canada  and  Britain.  I  have  seen 
what  your  representatives,  more  particularly  the 
agents  of  the  American  and  Canadian  Churches, 
have  accomplished  in  Korea  itself.  They  have 
built  wisely  and  well,  and  have  launched  the  most 
hopeful  and  flourishing  Christian  movement  in 
Asia.  Their  converts  have  established  congrega- 
tions that  are  themselves  missionary  churches, 
sending  out  and  supporting  their  own  teachers  and 
preachers  to  China.  A  great  light  has  been  lit  in 
Asia.  Shall  it  be  extinguished?  For,  make  no 
mistake,  the  work  is  threatened  with  destruction. 
Many  of  the  church  buildings  have  been  burned; 

3*5 


316  KOBE  A' S  FIGHT  FOR  FEEEDOM 

many  of  the  native  leaders  have  been  tortured  and 
imprisoned;  many  of  their  followers,  men,  women 
and  children,  have  been  flogged,  or  clubbed,  or 
shot. 

You,  the  Christians  of  the  United  States  and  of 
Canada,  are  largely  responsible  for  these  people. 
The  teachers  you  sent  and  supported  taught  them 
the  faith  that  led  them  to  hunger  for  freedom. 
They  taught  them  the  dignity  of  their  bodies  and 
awakened  their  minds.  They  brought  them  a 
Book  whose  commands  made  them  object  to  wor- 
ship the  picture  of  Emperor — even  of  Japanese 
Emperor  —  made  them  righteously  angry  when 
they  were  ordered  to  put  part  of  their  Christian 
homes  apart  for  the  diseased  outcasts  of  the  Yoshi- 
wara  to  conduct  their  foul  business,  made  them  re- 
sent having  the  trade  of  the  opium  seller  or  the 
morphia  agent  introduced  among  them. 

Your  teaching  has  brought  them  floggings,  tor- 
tures unspeakable,  death.  I  do  not  mourn  for 
them,  for  they  have  found  something  to  which  the 
blows  of  the  lashed  twin  bamboos  and  the  sizzling 
of  the  hot  iron  as  it  sears  their  flesh  are  small  in- 
deed. But  I  would  mourn  for  you,  if  you  were 
willing  to  leave  them  unhelped,  to  shut  your  ears 
to  their  calls,  to  deny  them  your  practical  sym- 
pathy. 

What  can  we  do?  you  ask.  You  can  exercise  the 
powers  that  democratic  government  has  given  you 
to  translate  your  indignation  into  action.  You  can 
hold  public  meetings,  towns  meetings  and  church 


WHAT  CAN  WE  DO  I  317 

meetings,  and  declare,  formally  and  with  all  the 
weight  of  your  communities  behind  you,  where  you 
stand  in  this  matter.  You  can  make  your  senti- 
ments known  to  your  own  Government  and  to  the 
Imperial  Japanese  Government. 

Then  you  can  extend  practical  support  to  the 
victims  of  this  outbreak  of  cruelty.  There  could 
be  no  more  effective  rebuke  than  for  the  Churches 
of  the  English-speaking  nations  to  say  to  their  fel- 
low Christians  of  Korea,  "  We  are  standing  by  you. 
We  cannot  share  your  bodily  sufferings,  but  we 
will  try  to  show  our  sympathy  in  other  ways.  We 
will  rebuild  some  qf  your  churches  that  have  been 
burned  down;  we  will  support  the  widows  or  or- 
phans of  Christians  who  have  been  unjustly  slain, 
or  will  help  to  support  the  families  of  those  now 
imprisoned  for  their  faith  and  for  freedom.  We 
will  show,  by  deeds,  not  words,  that  Christian 
brotherhood  is  a  reality  and  not  a  sham." 

In  doing  so,  you  will  supply  an  example  that  will 
not  be  forgotten  so  long  as  Asia  endures.  Men 
say — and  say  rightly — that  Korea  is  the  key-land 
of  Northeastern  Asia,  so  far  as  domination  of  that 
part  of  the  lands  of  the  Pacific  is  concerned.  Korea 
is  still  more  the  key-land  of  Asia  for  Western  civ- 
ilization and  Christian  ideals.  Let  Christianity  be 
throttled  here,  and  it  will  have  received  a  set-back 
in  Asia  from  which  it  will  take  generations  to 
recover. 

"  The  Koreans  are  a  degenerate  people,  not  fit 
for  self-government,"  says  the  man  whose  mind  has 


318  KOEEA'S  FIGHT  FOE  FEEEDOM 

been  poisoned  by  subtle  Japanese  propaganda. 
Korea  has  only  been  a  very  few  years  in  contact 
with  Western  civilization,  but  it  has  already  indi- 
cated that  this  charge  is  a  lie.  Its  old  Government 
was  corrupt,  and  deserved  to  fall.  But  its  people, 
wherever  they  have  had  a  chance,  have  demon- 
strated their  capacity.  In  Manchuria  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  them,  mostly  fled  from  Japanese  op- 
pression, are  industrious  and  prosperous  farmers. 
In  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  there  are  five  thousand 
Koreans,  mainly  labourers,  and  their  families,  work- 
ing on  the  sugar  plantations.  They  have  built 
twenty-eight  schools  for  their  children,  and  raise 
among  themselves  $20  a  head  a  year  for  the 
education  of  their  children;  they  have  sixteen 
churches;  they  bought  $80,000  worth  of  Liberty 
bonds  during  the  war,  and  subscribed  liberally  to 
the  Red  Cross.  Some  of  these  Hawaiian  Koreans 
— 210  in  all — volunteered  to  serve  in  the  war.  A 
large  number  of  Manchurian  Koreans — their  total 
has  been  placed  as  high  as  thirty  thousand — joined 
the  Russian  forces,  fought  under  General  Lin,  and 
later,  in  conjunction  with  the  Czecho-Slovak  pris- 
oners, fought  the  rearmed  German  prisoners  and 
the  Bolsheviks. 

In  America  the  Koreans  who  were  fortunate 
enough  to  escape  have  brought  the  culture  of  rice 
into  California,  and  are  a  prosperous  community 
there.  Young  Koreans  have  won  prominent  place 
in  American  colleges  and  in  American  business. 
One  big  business  in  Philadelphia  was  created  and 


WHAT  CAN  WE  DO!  319 

is  conducted  by  a  Korean.  Give  these  people  a 
chance,  and  they  soon  show  what  they  can  do. 

A  word  with  the  statesmen. 

Japan  is  a  young  country,  so  far  as 'Western 
civilization  is  concerned.  She  is  the  youngest  of 
the  Great  Powers.  She  desires  the  good  will  of 
the  world,  and  is  willing  to  do  much  to  win  it.  Be 
frank  with  her.  You  owe  it  to  her  to  deal  faith- 
fully with  her. 

When  you  ask  me  if  I  would  risk  a  war  over 
Korea,  I  answer  this:  Firm  action  to-day  might 
provoke  conflict,  but  the  risk  is  very  small.  Act 
weakly  now,  however,  and  you  make  a  great  war  in 
the  Far  East  almost  certain  within  a  generation. 
The  main  burden  of  the  Western  nations  in  such 
a  war  will  be  borne  by  America. 

To  the  Japanese  themselves,  I  venture  to  repeat 
words  that  I  wrote  over  eleven  years  ago.  They 
are  even  more  true  now  than  when  they  were 
written : 

"  The  future  of  Japan,  the  future  of  the  East, 
and,  to  some  extent,  the  future  of  the  world,  lies  in 
the  answer  to  the  question  whether  the  militarists 
or  the  party  of  peaceful  expansion  gain  the  upper 
hand  in  the  immediate  future  (in  Japan).  If  the 
one,  then  we  shall  have  harsher  rule  in  Korea, 
steadily  increasing  aggression  in  Manchuria,  grow- 
ing interference  with  China,  and,  in  the  end,  a 
titanic  conflict,  the  end  of  which  none  can  see. 
Under  the  other,  Japan  will  enter  into  an  inherit- 
ance, wider,  more  glorious  and  more  assured  than 


320  KOREA'S  FIGHT  FOR  FREEDOM 

any  Asiatic  Power  has  attained  for  many  centuries. 
.  .  .  Japan  has  it  in  her  to  be,  not  the  Mistress 
of  the  East,  reigning,  sword  in  hand,  over  subject 
races — for  that  she  can  never  permanently  be — but 
the  bringer  of  peace  to,  and  the  teacher  of,  the  East. 
Will  she  choose  the  nobler  end?  " 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


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